Painting with Oils and Speaking with Signs
by GlowstickGirl
Summary: Wild at heart artist Bella has traveled the world with her mother for most of her life. At the insistence of her father, she enrolls at Hanley Falls Academy in San Diego. She soon finds herself making friends, breaking the rich kid mold, and finding love.
1. Preview

**A/N: If any of you have read my profile in the last few weeks, you will know that I have been working on a new story for you all. (: (If you haven't read my update on my profile, go check it out.)**

**I am about to hit 100 pages, 38,000 words, and ten chapters! I promised I wouldn't update until I had ten chapters. As I near my goal, I thought I'd give a little snippet of the story. I wanted to give you some kind of love-y moment of Edward and Bella, but that phase hasn't come yet... SO! I decided to share the following with you! **

**Disclaimer: I... *deep breath* don't own Twilight. There, it's out in the open. You all now know I am not Stephenie Meyer in disguise, hiding out on Fanfiction, tired of people hounding me to finish 'Midnight Sun'... 'Nuff said. (;**

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_Outtake from Chapter 4 _  
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"What a lovely necklace." Jack said, leaning closer. I inched back. My heels hit the edge of the pool. My hand shot up and grasped the elephant.

"Thanks…" I said slowly.

"You really have grown up, Bella; in more ways than one." Jack's eyes racked over my body. It wasn't like I had a lot to show off. I barley even fit into a B-cup bra! "There's going to be a party later on. You wanna come?"

I eyed him warily. Charlie would be angry if I didn't accept the invitation. "Where will it be?" I asked.

"In my bedroom," He inched closer, his face extremely close to mine. I could smell his cologne now and it was clouding my sense. "It'll just be you and me…" That woke me up.

I smiled demurely up at him and pressed my hands against his chest. "Do you wanna know what I think about you, Jack?" I purred. I could see his eyes clouding over. I internally cringed at what his mind was conjuring up. I kept smiling though, and ran my hands lower and lower to waist band of his pants. "Do you wanna know what I _really_ want to do, Jack?" I hooked my fingers in his belt loops.

"What?" He inquired with a thick voice.

My smile instantly disappeared. "This!" With that, I whipped him around by the belt loops and flung him into the pool. He was a heavy guy, but thanks to my 'womanly charms' (ha ha) I had made him less aware. "You're a _jerk_!" I yelled. I heard shouting from the porch. I turned and saw the adults coming towards us. I couldn't take it anymore. Screw Charlie and his friends. I didn't care what they thought about me. I was already going to the school Charlie wanted me to attend. There was no deal about me acting like a prim and proper princess around his friends.

I ran across the lawn to the fence. I could hear Mrs. Montgomery screaming my name, but I didn't care. I pulled myself over the fence and dropped into the other yard. A couple lounging around their pool stared at me. I waved slightly before jogging away. I pushed open the gate and kept going. I ran down the street, passing perfectly trimmed yards and gorgeous houses filled with snobby people. My feet were starting to hurt. I wished I'd worn my Converse. I was already starting to sweat when I came to a gazebo that sat in the middle of a roundabout. I sat down in it, catching my breath, and thought about what to do. I would _not_ go back to the Montgomery's house. I could call someone, but I didn't know anybody close enough to come get me. I pulled out my wallet from my bag and looked through it. I had a few tens and a credit card I never used. I could probably get a taxi to take me some of the way…

As I was debating my plan, a loud motor came towards me. At first I thought it was Charlie or one of the Montgomerys, but the motor didn't sound like a car. I looked closer and saw…

"_Jacob?_" I gasped, standing up. There he sat on a jet black, sexy motorcycle. He held a dark helmet in his hands, looking at me in surprise. "What are you _doing_ here?" I demanded, shocked. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. There was no way in this world anything like this would happen at a time I needed it most.

"I could ask you the same thing." He replied, cutting the engine. "I thought you were at the beach party."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I wish. Charlie made plans to visit the Montgomerys today."

"Wow that sucks. Why aren't you at the Pansy Palace now?"

I smiled, a thought popping into my head. "Give me a ride back to school and I'll tell you how I kicked Jack's butt."

Jake held out his helmet to me. "I'll give you a ride to China just to hear that story."

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! I am almost finished with chapter 8 and soon hope to have the rest of the story up here. (: I can't wait to share laughs, snickers, gasps, literature remarks, and ideas with you all! (:**

**~GlowstickGirl  
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	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I hope you all enjoy this new story! I'm not totally sold on this chapter, but that's because my favorite parts of the story come in later chapters (the ones I'm writing at the moment). I really based Bella off a version of myself (music taste, sarcasm, thoughts), so I hope you like her. (:**

**Disclaimer for the whole story: I don't own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer does.**

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Chapter 1

I took a deep breath. Today was the day I was going to do and see the scariest thing in my life. It didn't even compare to the lions in Kenya, or the vampire bats in South America, or the salt water crocodiles in Australia, or even the deadly cobra in Asia. No, today something much worse was going to be seen and done.

I was going to high school.

Hanley Falls Academy to be exact. It was in San Diego, California. It had the richest, snobbiest students across America. And I – Bella Swan – was enrolled to start there August 23. And that was today. The scariest day of my life.

To say the least, I wasn't a 'rich girl'. Sure, I was rich – had to be if I was going to attend the snooty _Hanley Falls Academy_ – but I wasn't one of those girls who showed it. I didn't wear short skirts or tight shirts. I didn't carry around a designer purse or wear makeup; not that I had anything against purses or makeup – they just weren't for me. However, I did carry around a hobo bag to stash all my art things in.

I didn't tote around my little rat dog in a Gucci bag because A. I didn't carry a purse – like I just said – and B. I had Great Danes, not pampered pugs. Ha ha, mental image of Drake trying to fit into a purse… Anyways! To sum it all up, my life was about to get really scary, really fast.

I could see it. The school. Or really, Academy. It was huge. Completely brick with stone steps and big wooden doors. My window was rolled down, the warm air hitting my face, but I suddenly felt the urge to roll it up and ask my mom to turn around. My dad had wanted to drive me here – no doubt to show off his Ferrari – but I had insisted that Mom bring me because it was more convenient. So instead of arriving in a fast, red sports car, I was arriving in a beat up old station wagon. Now, I know what you're thinking: _I thought you said you were rich! Why is your mom driving a piece of crap? _Well, my mom wasn't like other rich moms. You see, she had a lot of money – _a lot_ – but like me, she didn't enjoy flaunting it. Unlike my dad. That was part of the reason they divorced when I was seven.

"Mom," I said, playing with the hem of my purple t-shirt. "I changed my mind; I don't want to go."

My mom glanced over at me with bright blue eyes. Her skin was tan with a splash of black freckles across her nose. Her black hair was pulled into a sloppy bun and she was wearing blue jean overalls. Her eyes crinkled up when she smiled and reached over to squeeze my knee. "Oh, honey, I know." She said; her voice was like sugar. "But you have to. It's something your dad really wanted, and since you and I have been traveling for so many years, I couldn't say no. _Literally!_ But trust me, the school isn't that bad. I went here when I was in high school, and I survived."

"Yeah, but, Mom, you were popular then," I protested, turning in my seat. My sandals squeaked against the floor mat. "People liked you."

"And they'll like you too." She replied with a smile. "Trust me, babe, I got a feeling. This year is going to be something else."

Sighing, I turned to look back out the window.

Renée pulled into the big parking lot and my stomach felt like I had just gone sky diving again. There were a lot of people here. I watched as a girl in a mini skirt walked down the side walk to a lady in a blouse and pencil skirt. The girl had two men following her, carrying, what I assumed were, her trunks. When she walked, her hips shook from side to side and her hands were swinging at a dramatic pace. _Seriously?_ I thought sarcastically.

Renée pulled the car into a parking place towards the front and turned the engine off. "I'm going to go talk to the dorm secretary. You stay here and I'll be right back." She smiled at me before opening her door and jumping out. I watched her walk towards the school, her hands in her pockets. My mom had stood out in Africa, South America, and Asia, but not as much as here. In this town, with all its rich snobs, my mom stood out like a sore thumb. Just imagining what _I_ would be like… well, it wasn't comforting.

I watched as Renée walked to the lady in the pencil skirt and talked to her for a few minutes. The lady handed Mom a key and told her something. My mom gave the lady a breezy smile and a wave before heading back to the car. She opened her door and hopped in.

"Okay, you are in the Porthaven Dorm in room 84." Renée told me as she started up the car and drove to the dorms.

"How many dorms are there?" I asked.

"There are eighteen dorms – a lot, I know."

I gulped. "There're eighteen dorms? How many rooms are in them?"

"Um… about one hundred. And there are usually around two people in each room, but sometimes a group of friends wants to be in the same room so they squeeze in three."

I felt like passing out. I slumped back into my seat. There were over 3,600 students going to this school.

Mom pulled into another parking place that was by the dorm rooms. The buildings matched the school except a little bit newer looking. Mom opened her door and walked around to the back, ready to get my things to my room. Taking a deep breath, I opened my door and stepped out onto the black concrete. The sun was shining and it was warm. The air smelled slightly of sea salt from the ocean, but was also laced with the rich smell of freshly cut grass and flowers. I adjusted my skinny jeans before going to help Renѐe. I only had five boxes and a duffle bag with my things in them along with a few miscellaneous items. Slinging the duffle bag over my shoulder, I grabbed my surf board and tucked it under my arm. Mom had another box in her arms and was waiting for me on the sidewalk. I joined her and we started walking towards the dorm. People watched us as we walked up the stone steps to the sliding glass doors. When we entered, a blast of wind hit out faces.

The dorm looked more like a hotel lobby. The carpet was a royal blue color. Little path ways of stone led from the doors to the center of the room where a big mosaic of a seagull was done in the middle of a circle with blue, gray/silver, and gold stones. There were three separate sitting areas in each corner of the room with royal blue and gold couches. A place to study maybe? In the far right corner of the huge room was a circle desk/counter. My mom led me over to the desk. Soft music was playing throughout the room. A few people were there, but not many.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The lady behind the desk asked. Her light brown hair was pulled into a tight bun.

"Hello, we're here to check in." Mom said with a smile. "My daughter, Bella Swan, is a new student here."

The secretary checked my name off a very long list and said, "Your room is on the fifth floor. It appears that your roommate checked in ten minutes ago. As I recall, I saw her going back out to get the rest of her luggage."

Oh yeah, I forgot I was going to have a roommate… Let's hope for the best.

"Thank you," Mom said before leading me away from the desk down a hall at the opposite side of the entrance. We walked down the stone path, passing huge windows on either side that looked out over courtyards. We walked to the elevator and pushed the button. I looked back into the foyer where other people were milling about. I glanced to either side of us, seeing two more halls. There were doors that probably led to dorm rooms and there were doors leading outside at each end of the hall.

"Bella, you look like a caged animal!" Mom laughed. "Calm down! You'll be fine."

I smiled shakily at her and took in deep breathes.

The elevator gave a loud _ding_ and the doors opened. We stepped into the sleek box and rode up to the fifth floor.

The ride up was quiet. I played with the edge of the box I was holding, my nerves on high. The elevator doors slid open and we stepped out into the hall. The gold walls had different flyers tacked to bulletin boards. We turned to the left and started down the hall, towards room 84C. Girls were milling about, talking to different friends. Some girls looked 'normal', but the majority of them were snobs.

"Here we are; room 84C." Mom said. The door was already open so we walked in.

The room was big. Like _really _big. I dropped my bag on the empty bed on the far right wall and looked around. The room was bare at the moment with only cream colored walls. There were two desks next to each bed and huge wardrobes were already in place on either side of the room. The long wall that my bed was backed up to had a big window right in the middle that ran for at least seven feet. I walked over to it. I could see a large courtyard and field where some guys were playing Frisbee. The field and courtyard were surrounded by other buildings that matched Porthaven, making a big circle. I assumed they were the other dorms. I glanced down and noticed that people were walking in and out of Porthaven. There must have been a door I missed.

"Did you want to go back down to the car and get the other boxes?" Mom asked me.

I turned towards her, my hands in my jean pockets, and nodded. I walked out the door, leaving my mom to put my things away. We were so much alike that she knew where I would want things. I walked down the hall, trying to stay as invisible as possible. Although I did get a few who-the-heck-is-she? looks, I managed to make it to the lobby without any incidents. I crossed the lobby and headed for the door. The heat hit me as soon as I was outside. It felt great. I hoped it would be like this all year. I walked to the car, my arms swinging slightly as I went. I opened the trunk and pulled out a box. Deciding to check out the court yard, I walked down the side walk, box in arms, and around Porthaven. Girls were lying on beach towels, sunbathing, boys were playing different games. It was peaceful here in a way. I walked down the stone path to the big fountain in the middle of the courtyard. I looked around and noticed something. The boys I had seen from my room playing Frisbee had accidentally thrown it too far and it was sailing towards me. I put the box down and grabbed the Frisbee from the air before it could crash into something.

"Dude, thanks!" One of the guys shouted. He was walking towards me now and I felt suddenly shy. As he came closer, I could see that he had curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. He was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt; his muscles were practically bursting through the fabric though. He was extremely cute, but probably a jerk. "That was a great catch." He said, now standing in front of me. I had to tip my head slightly to look up at him. I felt extremely shorter than usual at the moment.

"Thanks," I said. I handed him the Frisbee and went to pick up my box again. He threw the Frisbee to his friend, waved to him, and then started to follow me.

"So, are you new here? I haven't seen you before." He said, making conversation.

"Yeah, I am." I replied.

"Awesome. What dorm are you in?" This guy was really nice. He had a friendly smile on his face and looked right at me when I talked.

"Porthaven,"

"Cool. I'm staying Wellington." He pointed to the building straight across from mine. "You're going to like it here. I've been going to this school since my freshman year." I smiled at him. "I'm Emmett by the way. Emmett McCarty."

I shifted the box to my hip and held out my hand. "I'm Bella Swan." He smiled widely and shook my hand.

"Dude, come on, the girls called and they want us to help them unpack." Emmett's friend said while jogging over to us. He was tall and had chin length blond hair. His eyes were almost a silver blue. He was also extremely cute.

Emmett looked at him and said, "Jasper, this is Bella. Bella, this is my friend Jasper."

I smiled and nodded at Jasper. He gave me a chin up gesture and smiled.

"Well, I'll see you later, Bella." Emmett said. He and Jasper were starting to back away.

I nodded. "Oh, okay. Bye." I turned and started walking back towards the dorm. I was almost there when I heard someone call my name. I turned around to see Emmett jogging towards me.

"Hey, my friends and I are going to the beach on Sunday." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know it's like five days away, but you wanna come?"

I shifted from foot to foot, deliberating. Beaches? Friends I didn't know? Friends that were probably boys and, judging from Emmett's good looks, gorgeous girls too? "I'm not sure." I instantly felt bad for saying that. Emmett's face fell off the Empire State Building. "You see," I tried to cover up, "I haven't met my roommate yet, and I don't want to leave her alone if she's not doing anything that day." I prayed that she didn't have a social life. It's not that I didn't like Emmett; I just didn't like big crowds.

"That's cool." Emmett said, smiling brightly. "She can come too! The beach is big, there's enough room." Fabulous… "Here's my number." He pulled out a small black cell phone. "If you need a ride or something, just call me." I was about to pull the 'I don't have a cell phone, sorry!' card, but Renѐe had recently bought me one. She wanted to 'keep in touch'.

Repressing a sigh, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I handed it to him and he gave me his. I quickly entered my number – thank goodness I memorized it! – and handed it back to Emmett.

"Smile!" He said before the camera on his phone flashed. Thank goodness I smiled just in time. He snapped a picture of himself with my phone and handed it back to me. "Caller ID." He explained. Stuffing the phone back in his pocket, he started jogging towards Jasper who was waiting by the fountain. "I'll see you around, Bella!" He waved. I couldn't help. Emmett was just so easy to like that I actually laughed and waved back.

When I arrived back at the room, Renѐe wasn't alone. A beautiful girl with long, curly black hair and soft brown skin was sitting on the other bed, chatting with Reneѐ. She had a Green Tea Frappuccino in her hand and was sipping on it occasionally. The girl was wearing jean shorts and a white tank top with blue and purple flowers on the top completed with a pair of leather flip flops. All of the boxes on that side of the room were unpacked and folded up against a wall.

The girl and Renѐe turned to look at me.

"Hey," The girl said with a smile. She stood up and walked over to me. "I'm Dacia Lindall, you're roommate." Up close, I could see that her eyes were a beautiful color blue.

"Bella Swan." I smiled. "I see you've met my mom."

"Yeah, she helped me unpack all of my things." Dacia gestured towards her side of the room. "Which was a big help. It would have taken all night!"

Renѐe laughed and twisted her hair up with a chopstick. The windows were open, causing the blue and lavender curtains to rustle slightly.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind the curtains. A lady I'm friends with made them for me." Dacia said.

"I think they're really nice." I smiled. "Lavender is one of my favorite colors."

I dropped the box to the ground and started unpacking it. It didn't take long though because it was only books. I put them on the nightstand shelf.

"Well, ladies, I'd love to stay longer, but Napa is calling my name and I have to run." Renѐe said, rising from my bed.

Suddenly, I felt panicked. I wanted to grab on to her legs and hold her back, screaming, "Mommy, don't leave me here!" But I knew I couldn't do that. Instead, I acted like a big girl and walked Renѐe down to her car. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on our heads. I walked Renѐe right to the car door. She turned to look at me.

"I'm just a call away, Bells." She smiled. Thank goodness Dacia had stayed on the sidewalk a few feet down. I wrapped my arms around Reneѐ's neck and hugged her tightly. She hugged me back. "Don't worry, hon, it'll be alright. Dacia is a nice girl; she'll be a great friend. And by the looks of that boy you were giving your number to, you'll have friends in no time."

I pulled back to stare at her. "You were spying on me?" I asked.

She just laughed. "Your dorm has a great view!" I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help the smile on my face.

"I'll miss you, Mom." I told her once last time.

"Love you, babe." She told me before climbing into her car and pulling away. I waved as she drove out of the parking lot. For a brief moment, I felt like breaking down in tears, but I pushed that away and turned back to Dacia.

"You want to do something tonight?" She asked as we walked back to the dorm. "We could see a movie or go to one of the local school cafés or I could show you around the campus…"

"Um… do you mind showing me around campus?" I asked hesitantly.

"Sure!" Just let me grab my sunglasses and purse. And I need to get another Frappuccino." She smiled.

We walked back into our room and she grabbed her white purse and slipped on a pair of Aviators. She fixed her hair in the mirror before turning to me. "Ready?" She smiled.

I picked up my hobo bag and nodded. As we walked out the door, I started to grow a little apprehensive of Dacia. She seemed like the type of girl that would be a snob. She even dressed like one! But she didn't act like one. So, who was she really?

We walked out of Porthaven and down the sidewalk, to the middle of the courtyard. She sat down on the fountain edge and gestured around her. "This is where all the dorms are. I'm not going to give you all the history of them, but know that that dorm right there," She pointed to a tall brick building two doors down from ours. "Is where the snobbiest, richest, most popular girls live. It's called Canaday. Avoid it at all costs. They have a lot of wild parties over there. And yes, drinking is involved. Boys go over there at night and don't come out until the next day."

"I thought that there were visiting hours for all the dorms." I said.

She looked at me with an annoyed expression. "There _are._ But they always get away with it. And the teachers never find any proof of the drinking. Ugh, let's change the subject. I have bad memories of that place." Before I could ask more, she pointed to another dorm straight across from ours. "That dorm right there, that's Wellington. The hottest guys live there." A dreamy look came across her face. "All of them play sports. They always keep their grades up. And wow, there are a few in there that are probably the most polite guys that you will _ever_ meet. The teachers love all of them. If you get a guy in there, even if he's just a friend, you've scored big time." I stared at the brick building and remembered Emmett and Jasper. Emmett told me that he lived in Wellington. I wondered if I should tell Dacia about the invitation for next Sunday….

"Are you friends with anyone in there?" I asked, deciding not to say anything yet.

Surprisingly, her cheeks turned slightly pink under her dark skin. "Uh, sorta. Come on, let's go to Starbucks." She got up quickly and started walking towards Wellington. I got up and followed her.

"Why are we going to Wellington?" I asked her, trying to hide a smile. I had a feeling that she liked someone in there.

"We're not." She said quickly. "There's a pathway that leads to Marco's beside it."

"Marco's?" I asked, confused.

"It was named after someone. It's where all the cafés and shops are at HFA."

"Oh, okay."

We walked past Wellington, the tall building towering above us. Boys were walking in and out, carrying their things up to their dorms. A few of them turned to stare at Dacia as she walked by. She didn't even notice though. And that was another reason for me to like her.

"Hey, is that a nose ring?" Dacia asked, as we walked away from Wellington, down a stone pathway.

I blushed slightly, reaching up to touch the tiny stone in my nose. "Um, yeah. I got it a few years ago in India."

"Wicked. I've always kinda wanted one, but I'm not a fan of pain." She shrugged her shoulders. "What about your cartilage, did that hurt?"

My hand shot up to the top of my ear, playing with the multiple little loops there. "Yeah, more than the nose. For some reason, it hurt more on the left ear than the right."

"Weird…" Dacia trailed off.

"So, you're an artist?" She asked, filling in the silence.

"Yeah," I suddenly felt embarrassed. I didn't like bragging about myself.

"You're mom showed me some of your pieces. They're really good. Are you going to join the art club?"

"Um, no." I told her. We turned a corner and Marco's was suddenly in front of us. It was like a mini mall outside. My eyes skittered over all the stores, only recognizing a few of the names. "Wow, this is big."

"It's really nice to have on campus, though." Dacia smiled as she made her way over to the Starbucks. I followed. Before we entered, Dacia turned to me and whispered, "Follow my lead." I nodded slowly and we went inside. As the door opened, the tiny bell signaled our arrival. There were a few people in here, but not many. The guy at the counter instantly perked up when he saw Dacia.

"Hello, I'd like to have a Green Tea Frappuccino." She told the guy. He quickly entered her order into the cash register. "Do you want anything?" She asked me.

"Um, I'll have a coffee." I said, looking briefly over the menu.

He pulled out two cups and a Sharpie. "What are your names?" He said, smiling. I think he was trying to alluring, but it didn't really work.

Dacia slid her sunglasses off and smiled back. She _did_ look alluring. "Myrtle Lynch." Wait… what?

The guy nodded quickly and wrote that down on her cup. He turned to me. When he wasn't looking, Dacia, or 'Myrtle', winked at me.

"Uhhh…" I stuttered, trying to think of something. "Bertha Flynn."

The guy nodded, totally buying it. "Okay, Myrtle and Bertha, your drinks will be right up!" He turned to the coffee machine. He had them done in a matter of seconds and handed them to us. "There you go. I hope to see you two again _soon_." He winked.

Dacia smiled before grabbing my arm and yanking me outside. As soon as the door closed, she burst out laughing. "That was hilarious!"

"I'm really lost…"

"Every time I go in there, some guy is always hitting on me. So finally, I started giving them false names and they _always_ buy it!" She laughed. "Bertha Flynn? Where did you come up with that?"

I laughed too. It was official. Dacia and I were going to get along famously. "It's all I could think of! Myrtle Lynch? That sounds like an extinct bird!"

"You're one to talk, Bertha." She laughed. After a few more minutes of jokes and laughs, we sobered and started the tour again. Dacia showed me the football field (huge), and the pool (also huge. I wasn't quite sure why they had it though. I mean, the beach was two minutes away!), and the gardens (do I really need to say that it's huge?), and then the library (beautiful and huge). Dacia was about to take me somewhere else, but her phone started ringing.

"Hello? …Yeah… I'm kinda busy right now… What? Okay, I'll be right there." She put her phone back in her purse and turned to me. "Sorry, Bertha, but something's wrong in the music room. They smell smoke. And since I'm the president of the music club, I gotta go handle it. Do you wanna come with me, or go back to the dorm?"

I debated. "I think I'll explore a little longer. I'm sure there's still more to see."

"Okay, I'll see you later!" Dacia waved before hurrying off.

I left the garden and headed back to the dorm to drop off some of my stuff. It was extremely hot so I decided to change. I dropped my stuff on my bed. I ran a brush through my thick hair and twisted it up into a bun on top of my head. There, change done.

I grabbed my sketch pad and glasses before leaving the room. Before I closed the door, I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned slowly around and stared at Dacia's bed. Curled up on a pillow was a tiny hair ball. It was staring at me with blue eyes. Without a word, I turned away from Dacia's cat and left the room. As I walked down the hall, I gave a slight shudder. I was not a cat person. Dacia and I would have to talk about that little hair ball she called a pet.

Once out in the courtyard, I debated on where to go. It would have to be on campus because I didn't have a car and didn't want to walk a long way. I started to wander around, watching different people. People Watching was something my mom and I did frequently. When our flights were delayed, we would sit in the airport and watch people. It was funny what some of them did… and what they were wearing. So many stories there.

I came to sit on top of a hill. It was out of viewing range from the dorms and from here, I could faintly see the ocean. A grassy field lay beneath me, backing up to trees. I took out my glasses and slipped them on. My mom made fun of me for wearing Nerd Glasses, but I really liked them. They were unique and different. I suddenly wished I had brought my iPod, but remembered that my cell phone had internet. I pulled it out from my pocket and looked up Rhapsody. I logged into my account and started a playlist. _Blueside_ by Rooney started playing. I pulled out my sketch pad and stared doodling, getting lost in thoughts. School started on Friday. I prayed that my teachers would be intelligent and that my classmates wouldn't look down on me. Since Renѐe and I traveled all the time and hardly stayed in one place longer than a year, I never got the chance to really know anyone at the schools I enrolled in. No friends ever lasted (not that I made very many) and no diplomas were handed to me (I missed my middle school graduation). It would be strange, living in a place for this long. Sure, I had done it before when Charlie and Renѐe were still together, but those days were all a blur and I didn't even remember what school I went to then.

On my sketch pad, I had drawn seagulls flying up in the sky, a giraffe holding a balloon with its mouth, and then... I sighed deeply as I looked at the other picture. It was the upper half of a man. He was facing away from me and had short black hair. A woman was clutching onto his shoulder as he carried her somewhere unknown to me. Her long hair swirled around the two of their torsos. Why in the world had I drawn that? Well, there's no explanation for any of my drawings. It just flowed through me without any thought and then afterward, I would inspect what I had come up with.

_Sing for Absolution_ faded to an end on my phone and _Forget and Not Slow Down_ blasted out loudly. I lay back in the grass and stared up at the sky, breathing in the air. I wiggled my foot in time to the beat. Somewhere along the way, though, I lost the beat, which was very unlike me. I sat up and looked around. A faint thudding was coming from my right. It was far off, but quite distracting. Feeling curious, I grabbed my phone, turning off my music and went to see what it was. I found that path and followed the noise. I passed by some tall shrubs and turned a corner. I didn't have trouble finding where the sound was coming from. In front of me, there was a huge football field. _This school was really big on sports…. _I thought to myself. In the field, there were guys out practicing. They didn't have uniforms on, but each had a gray t-shirt that had their last name written across it in royal blue letters. An older, heavy set man was standing on the sidelines watching them with his arms crossed. He must have been the coach.

A guy kicked the ball through the field goal. Screaming came from the stands. I jerked my head in that direction. Girls were jumping up and down, shouting their praises at the guy who kicked the ball. When he heard them, he turned and smiled widely. He shook his head, causing in blond hair to swish to the other side. I rolled my eyes at him. _Oh brother._ As he ran to get a drink, I started walking past the stands and field, heading back to the dorms. I held my sketch pad lightly at my side, swinging it lightly. My hair bun was starting to come out, so I decided to let it down. I reached up and pulled the hair tie out, letting my hair fell below my shoulders.

"Cullen, get out there!" The couch yelled. I would have kept walking, but the sight before me made me freeze in my steps. A guy with the most beautiful color of bronze hair ran out to the field. His body was well defined under the grey t-shirt and tight football pants. He had extremely white skin, but it looked so smooth and soft. He was, by far, the most handsome man I had ever seen in my life. He smiled at someone in the crowd as he jogged across the grass.

I blushed deeply when I realized I was outright staring at him. I quickly averted my gaze and started walking slowly away. I'd never acted this way about a guy before, no matter how handsome.

I shot a quick peak over my shoulder and saw him jogging in my direction. I turned my head away quickly and picked up my pace. I needed to put as much distance between myself and that Adonis.

I forced myself not to look back and kept walking past the dugout. As I was turning a corner, I wasn't watching where I was going and accidentally ran into someone. I fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized to the person. I slowly looked up into an amazing pair of crystal blue eyes.

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. (: If you notice anything wrong (sentance structure or spelling) please notify me. I read over it and fixed errors, but that doesn't mean things didn't slip past me. (:**

**Make me smile by reviewing. My birthday is in 16 days. (:  
**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I couldn't wait until next week to update, so here you go! (:**

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Chapter 2

I had seen a lot of colors before, but this color of blue was the most gorgeous color I'd ever seen before. They were bright blue with amber flecks and a ring of green around the outside. And the face they were set in wasn't too hard to look at either. He had angular features and great cheekbones. His hair was a dark brown with flecks of red in it. He was taller than me and had a lean, but muscular, body.

I quickly stood up, brushing myself off. "I'm sorry," I apologized again, blushing. "I didn't see you there." He stared at me, not saying anything. My blush deepened under his intense gaze. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He shook his head 'no', but still didn't say anything. "Um…." I wasn't quite sure what to say.

He stared at me, not saying anything. I started fidgeting, feeling awkward and uncomfortable. "Uh, I'll guess I'll just leave." I told him hesitantly, walking past him. He watched me the whole time, still not saying anything. Once out of view, I rolled my eyes. Seriously, how rude could he be? I didn't _mean_ to slam into him! I was the one that fell! He actually had the nerve to give me the silent treatment. How immature. I walked down the pathway and to the dorms, pushing that guy out of my thoughts. The sun was lowering in the sky, indicating that it was almost time for dinner. I walked into my room and stripped off my clothes. After sitting in the grass and walking all over campus, I was feeling a little grimy. I pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and blue a t-shirt that had the words 'Art Freak' across the front in fancy scrawl.

"Hey, deary, how's it going?" Dacia asked, walking into the room. I turned around and smiled at her.

"Good. I just got back from walking around. How was the music department? Any fire?"

Dacia flipped her sunglasses on top of her head and rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. Some teacher had been smoking outside, and the windows were open… need I say more?" She flopped down on her bed and sighed. The ball of white fluff yawned and stretched before climbing over to her and giving a pathetic 'mew'.

"Dacia, we need to talk about that… cat." I told her hesitantly. I wasn't one for confrontation.

"You're not allergic, are you?" She asked, sitting up and grabbing the cat. "Her name's Maleisha. Isn't she cute?"

I stared at the ball of fluff. "Uh… sure. No, I'm not allergic; I'm just not a big fan. As long as Ma-leash-a stays on your side of the room, I'm good." I replied, saying the name slowly.

"Aw, you don't like cats?"

"I'm a dog person." I said simply. Dacia shrugged her shoulders and put the cat down.

"So, you wanna do something for dinner? I'm starved."

"Yeah, sure," I replied, setting my notepad down on my desk. I walked over to my bed and pulled a drawer out from underneath. I grabbed a pair of sandals and slipped them on. Dacia freshened up her makeup before grabbing her purse. I was sure to get two twenties before we headed out the door.

"Ugh, I can't believe schools starts on Friday." Dacia said as we walked to Marco's. If possible, there were even more people out. Dacia had to grab onto my hand at one point as we walked through a cluster of people. My stomach churned at the thought that all these people went to HFA.

"When do we get our schedules?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck.

Dacia flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Thursday I think. Don't worry, I'll show you where all your classes are." She winked.

I smiled shyly. "Thanks." Dacia led me to a quaint little café that looked over a lake. We found a table close to the window and settled in. Our waitress came and gave us menus before flitting off to get our drinks. "This is really nice, Dacia." I said, looking at the lake. The sun was hitting the water, making everything come to life.

"Yeah, I come here a lot. It's great. Not many people know about it because there are so many other places to go around here, but I'm kinda glad." She said with a smile, "Less crowds."

I laughed and went back to looking at the menu. Even though Dacia was extremely nice, I still felt slightly out of place at this school.

*~/~/~/~/~/~/*~*/~/~/~/~/~/~*

"Bella, wake up. We need to get a move on!" Someone ripped the covers off my body. I instantly curled up into a ball and shivered. "No, wake up. You need to get dressed and ready for school!" I mumbled something before rolling out of bed and flopping onto the ground. My face hit the carpet

"What time is it?"

"Five-twenty. I let you sleep in some." Dacia told me, flipping on my side table lamp.

"What the crap, Dacia?" I never get up this early to get ready! Are you trying to torture me?" I grumbled, pulling myself off the floor. I ran a hand over my face to the back of my head. I yawned before trudging over to my wardrobe and yanking out a pair of clean undies and bra. I turned to look at Dacia who had already made her bed, pulled out her school books, and picked out an outfit. She stood by the door with her bathroom bag in her hands. I grabbed the rest of my things and we headed to the bathroom. Other girls were waking up, heading to the bathroom to do their morning beauty treatment. Dacia had explained the night before that if I didn't get up early enough I wouldn't get my shower. I decided to listen to her and just catch up on my sleep later.

We got to the showers at a perfect time. Once Dacia and I had claimed showers next to each other, all the other girls started pouring in. I was thankful that we only had to share a bathroom with the girls on our floor and not the whole building. I set my things down on a bench in the dry room adjoining to my shower. I stepped into the shower and was met by a blast of warm water. As I washed the shampoo out of my hair, I thought about the school day and was instantly hit by a wall of nerves. First Day jitters were a pain.

Dacia and I didn't dilly-dally. In twenty minutes we were out of the showers and finishing up at the sinks.

"What time does school even start?" I asked while looking at all the girls rushing about with panicked looks on their faces. It reminded me of gazelles fleeing from a lion. I'm still not one hundred percent sure as to why these girls were freaking out, though… It wasn't even six yet.

"It starts at eight o'clock." Dacia replied, brushing out her long black hair. "But I always like to have enough time to get ready."

I nodded as I packed up my things and waited for Dacia to finish. The bathroom was extremely crowded and noisy by now and I was starting to feel a bit cramped. Thankfully Dacia finished and we headed back to the room.

My stomach was in knots as I pulled on a pair of black jeans. I had talked to Renѐe the night before and she made me feel somewhat better. I don't know why I was so nervous. In all the places I had lived and gone to school it didn't matter if I fit in or not. Maybe it was different here because I would be staying for over a year…

My first few days at HFA with Dacia had been fun. I met new people and learned my way around campus a bit more. I should be okay, right?

After Dacia and I had our morning coffee at Starbucks – hello, Myrtle and Bertha! – we grabbed our bags and made our way to the school. My hands were sweating and heart was pounding as Dacia led me into the huge building. I stayed close to her as we walked down the halls.

"I wish we had our first class together." Dacia said sadly as we arrived at my English class. "Actually, I wish we had at least two classes together!"

I shrugged my shoulders. "There's always Biology 2 and lunch!" I offered with a smile. Dacia nodded sadly.

"Yeah, that's true. Well, I guess I should get to class. See you at lunch!" Dacia quickly hurried off to her Honors French class. I took a deep breath before walking into Honors English. Most of my class were honors.

There were a lot of people in the class already and we still had seven minutes left before school officially started. I found a seat on the far left by the window and sat down. A few people looked at me, but most just kept chatting with each other. I took out my sketch pad and an ink pen before starting to doodle. A few more people arrived before the teacher showed up.

I quickly replaced my sketch pad with a notebook as the woman set her things down. She looked like she was in her early twenties. She wore glasses and had on black dress pants and a red blouse along with a pair of black high heels. I prayed that she wasn't some ditz that had slept her way through college. Because let's face it, this was a beautiful woman with nice curves. I know that's kind of weird for me to say, but it's true.

Before I could ponder this more, the lady turned around, her jet black hair swishing with her movement. Her silver blue eyes surveyed the room before she introduced herself with a friendly smile. "Hey, everyone. My name is Miss Brontё. No, I am in no way related to the Brontё sisters." She rolled her eyes, "That would be amazing, but no. Actually, I have a sister named Anne." She laughed and wiggled her eyebrows. I smiled slightly. "So, welcome to Honors English. Don't think this year will be easy because it won't. But I promise that you will have a new perspective on the writing universe. I want this year to be hard but fun for you guys. If you can't make it in this class, don't plan on majoring in Literature." She smiled. "Now, we will be reading things like _Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, Fahrenheit 451_, and _The Count of Monte Cristo_. If you don't own copies of these books, then please do so before our next class on Monday." Miss Brontё talked for the rest of the class and let us out fifteen minutes early.

I gathered my things before going up to Miss Brontё to introduce myself. Any normal teacher would have learned our names from the roll, but Miss Brontё said she didn't care about roll. If we wanted an education to get somewhere in life we would show up for her class. I liked this woman.

Miss Brontё was sitting at her desk, reading something when I walked up. I clutched my bag as I said, "Um, hi. My name is Bella Swan."

Miss Brontё looked up at me with those almost scary silver blue eyes. "Hello, Bella. I'm glad to meet you." She smiled.

I gave a shy smile back. "You too. Um, I just wanted to introduce myself and say that I'm looking forward to your class. My last Lit class was taught by a man who barley spoke English and strong believed that women writers were fools. I didn't live there for long, though."

Miss Brontё laughed without mirth. "Oh, I'd say that guy was the fool. Don't even get me started on women who changed the writing world!"

"I wrote a research paper about it my freshman year for extra credit so don't worry about me having lack of knowledge in that department."

Miss Brontё appraised me for a second. "It's nice to know I'll have at least one A student in the class. Nice to meet you, Bella." She smiled slightly before going back to reading. I smiled triumphantly as I walked out of the class and down the hall. I loved it when teachers liked me.

The next class was German 2 (Honors, of course) but I already knew German (I lived there twice for nine months each time) so nothing terribly interesting in that class. I did meet a girl from France, though, and we had a full conversation in French after class. Her name was Claudette. After that I went to Trig and then European History. As I sat through my History class, waiting for lunch to roll around, I noticed the blue eyed boy from my first day. He was writing something in his notebook. His t-shirt had the word 'Coldplay' written on it with black letters. At least he had good taste in music. I watched him out of the corner of my eye for a moment before going back to my notes. Mr. Reagan was very passionate about history and was already jumping into the lesson. And here I thought today was just orientation.

The bell rang giving us our freedom. There was a rustling of papers and bags as everyone practically ran for the door. I took my time, in no hurry. I wasn't a fan of getting trampled by mad teenagers. As I walked to the door, I smiled goodbye to Mr. Reagan and walked out of the class room. I held onto the straps of my backpack as I navigated my way through the throngs of people. Dacia had told me where she usually sat in the cafeteria and that she would be waiting for me. As soon as I entered the huge room, I was met by the smell of food. The room was huge and open. Light poured in through the wall that was complete glass. The walls were starch white and kind of hurt my eyes.

I quickly got in line and bought a water bottle and apple. I was never very hungry at school. Turning around, I looked for Dacia. I spotted her at a table with two other girls, and walked over to them. The sunlight was pouring through the huge windows, casting sunbeams on the table. I pulled out a seat next to Dacia.

"Hey, Bella," Dacia smiled at me. "How were your classes?"

"They were fine." I smiled, letting out a breath of air. I felt much calmer now that I knew my way around the school. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.

"Did you hear that Rosalie Hale and Alice Brandon came down with some awful flu?" A girl that sat across from me asked. She had curly auburn hair and wore glasses. Freckles were splattered across her nose. "I hope it doesn't spread to Ashbury."

"Don't worry about that." Another girl said next to her, setting down the school newspaper. She had olive skin and almond brown eyes. Her hair was raven black and perfectly straight. "I heard that they just got back from some cruise to the Bahamas and picked it up there. And they've been fever free for twenty four hours, but they're staying in their dorm just to be safe."

"Poor Alice." Dacia said around a mouthful of apple. "I know she's probably really bummed about not being able to come to school on the first day. She's probably freaking out that some freshy is going to flirt with Jasper. Oh, girls, this is Bella, my new roommate. Bella, this is Suzie and Melanie. We're in orchestra together."

"I'm Suzie!" The first one said. She flipped her curls over her shoulder.

"And I'm Melanie." Said the other, "Suzie and I are roommates over in Ashbury. We both play violin so that's how we know Dacia."

"Strings are the bomb." Dacia said, pumping her fist in the air.

I smiled at the girls. "Nice to meet you. I think I have German with you, Suzie." I said slowly.

Suzie took a bite of a carrot. "Hey, yeah we do! Ha ha, that's funny."

"Where's Karmeka?" Melanie asked suddenly.

"Do I ever know where my sister is?" Dacia replied. "She's probably with Jeremy. They've been inseparable since last summer. She even insisted that he come with us on vacation, which he did." She rolled her eyes.

"Holy sugar iced tea and grits!" Suzie gasped, staring at something over my shoulder. "Captain McHottie Squad at twelve o'clock!" Both Dacia and Melanie turned to look. I glanced around the cafeteria not seeing 'Captain McHottie Squad'.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, turning around to look at them. They were still staring, Suzie's mouth hanging open a little.

"He is so fine." She sighed. "I just wanna rip his shirt off and bake cookies on his abs all day long."

I rolled my eyes, realizing they were talking about guys. I stood up with my trash and told them I would be back. I walked through the crowd and found a trashcan by a door. I heard someone sneeze like a mouse from beside me. I jumped, not realizing they were there. I turned to see a girl with spiky black hair and pale skin standing behind me. She was short, shorter than _me_, and extremely beautiful.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She smiled, her voice sounding like a summer breeze. "I just got over the flu and still have that awful sneeze."

I smiled hesitantly back, slightly confused as to why she would be talking to me. Girls who look like her didn't talk to me. Dacia and her friends were really pretty, but they were down to Earth. This girl, I wasn't so sure. Her clothes looked like they were designer and extremely expensive. Add that to the fact that she looked like a model and you've got perfect snob material.

"It's okay. I just didn't see you." I told her quietly, moving away so she could throw her things away. I was two steps away when she started talking to me again.

"I'm Alice Brandon, by the way. I don't think we've met." I turned around to her.

"Bella Swan. I'm new here." Suddenly, I remembered Suzie and Melanie talking about an Alice Brandon and Rosalie Hale having the flu. I guess Alice didn't have to miss school after all.

"That's why I don't know you!" Alice smiled. "I know almost everyone here. Well, the junior and senior class at least. What dorm are you in?"

"Porthaven."

"Same here!" She gasped in excitement. "Who's your roommate?"

"Dacia Lindall. We're on fifth floor in room 84."

Alice's face lit up in delight. "We're right next door! Ah, this is awesome! Are you with Dacia right now? I haven't gotten to talk to that girl since last school year."

I smiled at Alice's exuberance. "Yeah, we're right over here." I led Alice to our table where the girls were talking again.

"Look what the cat brought in!" Dacia teased, popping up from her chair and grasping Alice in a tight hug. Alice and the girls chatted for a few minutes, catching up. I sat back and listened to them.

"Why did you skip morning classes?" Dacia demanded, pushing Alice's shoulder. "Now I don't know if we have any classes together!"

Alice laughed a bell type sound. "I had to confirm with my mother that it was okay that I come into school. You know how much she likes to talk." Alice rolled her eyes. "And besides, the school day that really matters is Monday." She smiled slyly.

Suzie heaved a sigh, slumping over on Melanie. "That's when _they'll_ be in class."

"Who?" I asked.

"The Captain McHottie Squad." Dacia replied. "The first day of every school year, the captains are allowed to skip the first half of school so they can do whatever it is they do."

"Um, okay." I said, still confused.

"Since they skip the first half of school, none of the girls know if they have classes with them or not." Alice concluded. "I know Rosie has been dying to find out."

"Where is Rosalie?" Melanie asked.

Alice rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "Making out with Felipe, of course." Alice threw her hands in the air. "I told her! I told her _not_ to do it! Felipe might get the flu germs from her! But no cigar from that girl. She's 'lacking from male attention'." Alice did quotation marks with her fingers. "Oh, well. If he gets sick, it's not my fault."

"Who's Felipe?" I asked.

Dacia turned to me with a disgusted look on her face. "Felipe San Palo is the ultimate jerk that moved here from Spain freshman year. He's been with tons of girls, but had his eye on Rosalie up until last year. Rosalie broke up with her boyfriend Matt, and Felipe jumped in. I don't really think she likes him."

Melanie scrunched her eyebrows. "She's _still_ with Felipe? Why hasn't she made her move on Emmett McCarty yet?" The name clicked in my head. Emmett was the guy I met my first day there. I still needed to talk to Dacia about that party…

Alice sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Emmett is still with Tiffany and despite what some people may think about Rose, she will not steel a man from another girl. That's just wrong. So she waits. I can't wait until Emmett wakes up and realizes he should be with Rosalie." The girls nodded in understanding and agreement.

"Tiff and Emmett have been together since sophomore year." Melanie said sadly.

"But wait," Suzie said suddenly, sitting straight up in her seat. "I heard that Emmett and Tiff broke up."

"What?" The girls asked in unison.

Suzie nodded her head violently. "Yes! I heard it from Vicki! Tiff isn't going here anymore. She moved to the East Coast! Emmett is available!"

"Oh, wait till Rosie hears this!" Alice cried, popping up from her chair. "She'll dump that Felipe in a heartbeat!" Alice was about to run off when she stopped suddenly and a worried look fell upon her face. "You haven't heard anything about Jasper, have you?"

Suzie, Dacia, and Melanie shared a sly look. "He's still single, Ali." Dacia smiled teasingly. "Although I did see some freshman eyeballing him."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. See you later." I watched as she danced through the cafeteria and out of sight.

"Hey, come on," Dacia said suddenly, "We need to get to class." We all quickly got up and gathered our things. Dacia and I parted ways with Suzie and Melanie, who were going to Trig, and hurried to Biology 2. When we arrived, there were students gathered around the door, looking at something.

"Josh, what's going on?" Dacia asked a tall guy with brown hair. He turned and smiled at her.

"Hey, Dacia. Mr. Banner left this note. Said that he can't make it to class today because of some 'unplanned meeting'." Josh told her, shrugging his shoulders. "At least we have class off."

"Why isn't there a sub?" I asked.

"Too short notice, I guess." Josh replied. "The school probably didn't expect a teacher to skip on the first day of school."

"Thanks, Josh." Dacia smiled. "I guess I'll see you later." Dacia and I walked away from the classroom and down the hall.

"So what now?" I asked. "Do we just wander around the school aimlessly?"

Dacia looked up from her phone and said, "No, we're allowed to go to our dorms and Marco's. But we have to be back in time for our next classes. Do you need anything for class on Monday?"

I ran through the list of my classes so far in my mind. "Um… I might need one book for Lit. Is there a bookstore nearby?"

"Yeah, it's right across from Starbucks. I could go with you, if you want?"

"No, you don't have to." I smiled as we reached the school doors. "I think I can find it."

"Okay, I'll see you later. I gotta check on something." We parted ways at the school entrance; Dacia going one way while I went the other. It was mid afternoon and the sun was hot. I was glad I only had on jeans and a t-shirt. I lugged my backpack across campus to Marco's and found the bookstore easily.

The Book Nook was a quite store with rows and rows of books. The air smelled of paper and coffee. I inhaled it deeply as I walked inside. At the front of the store, there was a bay window seating area where a little dog was curled up on a seat. I patted his sleepy head before dropping my backpack to the floor beside him. I pulled out a pencil and twisted my hair up with it before looking through the aisles and aisles of books. Soft piano music twinkled above.

The one thing I loved almost as much as art was books. Back home in Napa, we had a study in the house. But really, it was more like a library. It looked like it was from a movie, with tall shelves and one of those ladders that's attached to the wall. I remember as a little girl loving to climb that thing. When my parents were going through the divorce, I had spent a lot of time hiding away in there. The walls were so thick that I couldn't hear the yelling. I read a lot of books and made up different stories. It was a very comforting place for me in a time of need.

"Are you finding everything okay?" An older lady asked, poking her head around the corner.

I smiled at her, pulling a book off the shelf. "Yes, thank you. I just got what I needed." I followed the short woman to the front counter where she proceeded to check out the book for me.

"Why aren't you in school?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, our teacher skipped class. I decided to come here and get a book for my Lit class in the mean time." I handed her the money after she told me the amount.

"Have you read this book before?" She asked, handing me the copy of _Wuthering Heights_.

I took it from her. "Yeah, but I lost my copy of it in Germany." I shrugged my shoulders. The lady and I talked for a bit longer before I said goodbye and made my way back to the school. It was strange to see the courtyard so dead. It was slightly eerie. As I walked into the school and down the empty hallway that would be flooded with people in three minutes, I pulled out my new book and flipped through it, reading favorite passages. I turned a corner and accidentally walked into someone, dropping my book to the floor.

"I'm sorry." I said, embarrassed. I reached down for the book at the same time the other person did.

"It's okay." He replied. We both grasped the book at the same time. I looked up into the most gorgeous pair of green eyes. I almost jumped back, thinking it was Blue Eyed boy, but it wasn't. He had bronze hair and sculpted features. He was positively the most gorgeous guy I'd seen in all my life. No question about it. No words described him. The only thing that made him different from Blue Eyes was the emerald colored eyes he had. It was strange how much the two guys looked alike…

I blushed profusely, realizing I was staring at him. I grabbed the book away from him and stood up. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to run into you. Um… Bye." I ran quickly down the hallway, leaving him still squatting on the floor, looking confused. When I was far enough away, I leaned against someone's locker and smacked my forehead. What was I thinking? I made myself seem like a total freak by running away! Now he'll just assume I was just some weird emo who didn't like conversation. Great….

With a sigh, I pushed myself off the wall and went to my next class… P.E. My most dreaded class. I entered the huge gym and went into the bathroom to change into the uniform I'd picked up from the office the day before. I stuffed my things into the small locker and went into one of the stalls. As soon as I slipped on the tiny shorts and tank top, I felt awkward. I hardly _ever_ wore shorts even when it was 100° outside. Not that I had ugly legs, it's just that when I was in the second grade, I was wearing shorts and some kid made fun of me saying that my legs were so white it hurt his eyes. Which was probably true. I swear I was part albino. But it still hurt to have him say that. Ever since then I'd wore jeans, sometimes making exceptions for a jumper or some select shorts. Other than that, the only time I would wear shorts was at the vineyard, harvesting the grapes. Don't even get me started on the _tank top _that I had to wear.

I stepped out into the gym and crossed over to the bleachers. I swiftly sat down by myself and pulled my legs up to my chest. Girls were down on the ground, chatting with guys and flirting their hearts out. I watched as one blond girl twirled her hair with one of her hands on her hips and smiled up at three guys. Poor boys…

The blond girl's attention quickly left the three boys when someone walked through the door. I watched as her face lit up with pure excitement as she squealed. "Oh, my gosh! Edward!" She ran full force at a guy as he walked through the door. All I could see was his bronze hair and green polo. As she pulled back, I was shocked to see the second guy I ran into. He looked slightly flustered by the girl's enthusiasm. My lip curled involuntarily. He was one of _those_ guys. The kind that let girls hang all over them and then dump them the next second.

"Hey, girl." Suzie said, sitting to me. She was still wearing her normal clothes. "How's it going? I saw you from the window and thought I'd say hi."

I smiled slightly at her thoughtfulness. "It's going fine besides the fact that I have to do P.E. every other day." I rolled me eyes. "Just my luck. I can barely walk across a flat surface without falling over."

Suzie laughed loudly. "Don't worry. Hopefully there will be some hot guy in here." She winked. I clutched my hands to my chest and widened my eyes, pretending to be hopeful. She laughed loudly.

I glanced over to where Edward was standing with a few other guys and a lot of girls. He had changed into his gym clothes and I had to admit he looked good in them. I mentally slapped myself for thinking that. I looked away quickly and saw someone.

"Hey, who is that guy over there? Standing by the door alone? Who is he?" I asked, looking at Blue Eyed boy. He was dressed in his gym clothes, leaning against the wall.

Suzie's eyes practically bugged out of her head when she saw him. "_That_ his Masen Cullen."

"I accidentally ran into him the other day and when I tried to apologize; he just stared at me, not saying anything."

Suzie placed a hand on my knee. "Honey, Masen is dumb. Not in a he's-so-stupid kind of way. I mean that he can't speak. Since he was like two, he's always been that way."

My cheeks pooled with red. Guilt coursed through me as I remembered thinking some of those things about him. He wasn't trying to be rude when he didn't respond. Oh, wow, I felt awful.

"Hey, I gotta get to photography class." Suzie said, standing up. "I'll see you later. Oh, and ask Dacia about Masen. I think she might be friends with him." I watched as Suzie walked down the bleachers, being careful not to trip.

I stared at Masen, watching as people passed him, not even saying hi. Why didn't he have any friends? He was really cute and was probably really nice. Gulping down my nerves, I decided that maybe I should go down and introduce myself. I slowly rose from the bleachers and made my way to Masen. He was looking the other way, so he didn't see me coming. The two voices in my head were raging war, arguing whether I should talk to Masen or go back to the bleachers. I was a few feet away from him about to say something when the coach came in and had us all head out to the track field. Once out there, I could feel that a breeze had picked up making it a bit less terrible being out there. I glanced down at my legs, noticing the intense whiteness of them. They were almost blinding. I held out my arms and noticed the same about them. Great.

"My name is Coach Clapp! Today we're just running around the track!" The coach yelled, getting our attention. "Pair up. Keep up with your partner. Do four laps and then we'll call it a day! Let's move!" He blew his whistle loudly. I watched people pair up, but no one made a move toward Masen. I took a deep breath and walked slowly over to him. I tapped his back and he turned around to look down at me.

I smiled hesitantly. "Hi, Masen, my name is Bella. Do you want to be partners?" I saw him smile slightly and nod his head. My heart was pounding as we started our way around the track. I was in shape, but I still felt awkward when running in front of people.

"I'm sorry about the other day," I told Masen, trying to make some sort of conversation. "I didn't mean to seem… rude." He shrugged his shoulders as if to say it was okay. After a few more minutes of silence, I tried again. "Um, I think we have European History together." He glanced over at me and nodded. "Have you had the teacher before?" He shook his head no. "If you ever need any help, you can ask me. I'm not saying you won't be very good in the class! Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. It's just that I know a lot about Europe because I've lived there." I mentally slapped myself.

Before I could beat myself up more, Masen touched my shoulder and smiled. He made his hand flat and touched it to his chin and then pulled it down in my direction. He mouthed the words 'thank you'. I smiled back, relived. We jogged the rest of the four laps before stopping, waiting for the others to finish. I asked him a few more yes or no questions.

"Okay!" Coach Clapp yelled, blowing his whistle. "Good job. Hit the showers. I'll see you all Tuesday." People started making their way back to the gym, ready to get out of the heat. Masen and I walked next to each other in a sort of comfortable silence. He seemed really nice and I wished I hadn't thought those accusing things about him. I pushed open the metal door to the gym and walked in. I was momentarily blinded by the change in brightness, but quickly recovered. I turned to Masen and was about to say something when someone called out to us.

"Masen, Bella! Hey!" I turned and saw Emmett jogging over to us. He was wearing the same thing as Masen and I were. He stopped next to me. "How's it going? I didn't know you two knew each other."

"We just met." I told him, slightly amused by his happy face. Emmett seemed to be a happy guy and I liked that.

"Masen, you coming Sunday?" He asked.

Masen nodded and signed something to him. Emmett seemed to understand what he said. "Awesome. Bella, are you and your friend coming?" He looked so hopeful.

"Umm…" I had forgotten to ask Dacia about the party on Sunday. Would she want to go? I had to think fast so I said, "My friend hasn't confirmed yet, but I think so." There, that was good enough.

Emmett's face lit up with excitement. "Great! Okay, do you two need a ride? I could pick you up if you don't."

"I don't know. I'm not sure if she has a car or not. If we need a ride, I will text you, though."

"Okay, just tell me before tomorrow morning. We're leaving before noon and will probably arrive at one. So, pack whatever you need and come hungry."

"Sounds great. Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow." I waved to them both before making my way to the shower. As I grabbed my things and jumped into a stall, I mentally groaned. Tomorrow would be difficult. I loved the beach, but not teenagers with hormones.

Once I was finished, I grabbed my backpack and walked back to the dorm. I was in the courtyard when my phone started buzzing. I pulled it out and flipped it open without looking at the screen.

"Hello?"

"How was my baby's first day of school?" Renѐe asked.

I smiled, glad to hear her voice. "It was fine. I don't have any homework, thank goodness."

"I'm glad to hear that! The dogs miss you terribly. As soon as I walked through the door Tuesday, they practically trampled me, looking for you! Next long weekend, you've got to come home, okay? I miss my baby!"

I laughed loudly. I pushed the elevator that would take me up to my dorm and waited.

"Mom, I promise to come home soon, okay?" I told her. The doors opened and I stepped in. "I wish I could talk longer, but I gotta go talk to Dacia. Call you later."

"Bye, sweetie." Renѐe said before the line went dead. The doors opened and I walked down the hall to my room. I swung the door open and walked in. Dacia was sitting at her desk, doing something on her laptop.

"Hey, how was class?" She asked, not looking up.

"Dacia, what are you doing tomorrow?" I asked, dropping my backpack on my bed. I slipped out of my shoes and went to sit on Dacia's bed. She turned in her chair to look at me.

"I was thinking about doing something with my sisters, but nothing official. Why?"

"I met Emmett McCarty the first day I was here. He invited me to a party on the beach tomorrow and said I could bring a friend. I was going to talk to you about it, but I forgot. I already told him that we would most likely come."

Dacia stared at me, her mouth hanging wide open. It was silent except for the hum of voices in the hall.

"Say something!" I cried.

"Bella!" She screamed, jumping up. She started screaming and jumping up and down. I covered my ears, not sure if she was angry or excited. The door flew open with a bang. Alice and a gorgeous blond girl flew inside, breathless.

"What's going?" Alice yelled, looking from me to a screaming Dacia. "We heard you screaming next door."

Dacia yanked the two girls inside and slammed the door shut before leaning against the wall and sinking to the floor. "Bella, you are officially the best roommate I have ever had." She closed her eyes and heaved a blissful sigh. I glanced between Alice and, who I assumed was, Rosalie.

"What are you talking about?" Rosalie asked, sitting down on my bed.

Dacia's eyes popped open. "Bella was invited to Emmett McCarty's party Sunday… and she invited me to go with her." Dacia practically fell over when she finished.

"What?" Alice and Rosalie said in unison. Alice asked it with excitement while Rosalie sounded enraged and slightly jealous.

"Yeah, I met Emmett the first day I was here and he wanted me to come. I asked if it was alright if I brought a friend. It would have been really weird for me to go without knowing anyone there. Not that I even wanted to go, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings." I told them. Rosalie remained silent.

"That's awesome!" Alice said. "I hope you two have a fun time."

"Wait, you two weren't invited?" I asked suddenly. Why wouldn't they be invited? They were gorgeous and popular after all.

Alice shook her head sadly. "No, we're not really friends with anyone that is on the Captain McHottie Squad. To be invited, you have to be a friend. There aren't many people that are invited, but it's an awesome party. At least Lauren Mallory and her friends weren't invited!" Alice said, trying to seem upbeat, but I could tell she was slightly disappointed.

I cleared my throat. "Well, maybe I could ask Emmett if you two could come. He's really nice and easy going, I'm sure it wouldn't matter if two more people came. Oh, wait. Would Suzie and Melanie want to come?" I asked Dacia.

"Yeah, they would want to come, but they dedicate ten hours of every other weekend to practicing their violins, no exceptions. Melanie's parents are really strict and wanted Melanie to go to the school they went to in China. But Melanie got a scholarship to HFA on music so she made a deal with her parents. If she practiced every weekend and kept a 4.0 she could go to HFA. Suzie felt bad for her and agreed to practice with her. The party would interfere with the schedule. Sucks, right?" Dacia told me, the dreamy look still on her face.

"Oh, okay then. Well, I'll just ask Emmett if I can invite two more people." I told the girls, pulling out my phone.

"Bella, no, you don't have to do that." Alice said, holding up her hands. "We'll be fine." I could tell by the look on Rosalie's face that she really wanted me to ask, so I did.

_Hey, Emmett. I know this is a lot to ask, but would it be alright if I invited two more people? –B_

A few seconds later, he responded. _Yeah! That would be great! Do you all need a ride? -E_

"He said that would be great." I told the girls. "Do we need a ride? I don't have a car."

Rosalie's face was instantly transformed. She looked as if she'd won the lottery. "We can take my car. I've been working on it for a while, but it's finally ready."

"Okay, hold on." I quickly texted him back. Emmett gave me directions and said he couldn't wait for Sunday.

"So, um, are you and Emmett close?" Rosalie asked, trying to act nonchalant.

"Uh, no way." I replied. "Not my type."

"Oh, and what is your type?" Dacia teased, jumping on the bed beside me, still on a high from the news that she was going to the party.

I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore them by putting my school books away.

"Come on, Bells!" Alice pleaded.

"My type…" I said slowly, turning around. "I don't know, and don't really care. I'm not that interested in guys right now. I just want to get through life. If a guy happens to catch my attention, kudos to him; because it won't be easy to impress me."

"Fine. Be that way." Dacia huffed. "You guys wanna go to Starbucks?"

* * *

**A/N: Brontё is based off my favorite Lit teacher, Mrs. Maureen Schenk. If any of you have ever had that women (she's taught in my town, Southern California, and one other place), you will probably see the likeness in chapters to come. I love that women! She's really intimating and opinionated, but hilarious. I'm the type that obsesses over good grades (I almost cried when I got a B on my Physics test last year) and Mrs. Schenk told me and my friend Emma (who is just like me) to just ditch class one day and go see a movie... That coming from a teacher kind of humors me. (;**

**I could go on talking, but I'll be good and let you all review! (: Also, for those of you who do Not have an account, you can still review my stories. For the first year of my Fanfiction fascination I did not have an account and read hundreds of stories. And I didn't know I could review them... Quite sad. SO! Do not commit the same mistakes I did. YOU CAN REVIEW!**

**My birthday is in 15 days. (:  
**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Running. That's another thing to go on the list of things I liked to do. Crazy as it sounds for an uncoordinated person like me to enjoy running, it's quite true. It's one of those moments when you find yourself saying, "Wow, I never thought someone like _that_ would be so good at fill-the-blank." I've never been able to explain it and neither has Renѐe, but every morning I would get up at six and go running for forty minutes to an hour. With my new school schedule, or I should say shower schedule, it might become slightly difficult. At least I had the weekends.

Saturday morning, I got up at my usual time, being careful not to wake Dacia. I crept down the hallway and into the elevator. When I got outside, I breathed in the fresh morning air. Nothing beat that smell.

I had broken my cardinal rule that morning. I… was wearing shorts. Usually I just wore sweat pants, but with the heat I knew would come, I decided it would be better to go down a dangerous road I never took.

I was wearing a pair of black jogging shorts that were dangerously short (I'd stolen them from Dacia), a white tank (another exception), and a pair of blue and gray Pumas. I had my iPod and cell phone. I walked over to the fountain and threw my leg up on the side, doing stretches. When I bent over, I heard my back give a little crack. Satisfied I stood up and took a deep a breath before I started jogging. My iPod was playing a Paramore song and I was in the zone. My legs felt strange at first, but I eventually got into it. There was nothing but me, Paramore, and the ground beneath my feet.

The girls' question the other day had me thinking. What _was_ my type of guy? Emmett was nice, but I didn't feel any connection in that sort of way. Rosalie seemed the type to be with him. I felt like she was about to bite my head off just because he invited me to the party.

I didn't want a boyfriend. I had school to worry about. Besides, boys at this age were stupid, immature, and needed to grow up. Why _would_ I want someone with those qualities? No, I wanted someone… someone that was deeper than the guys around here.

As soon as I thought that, I laughed out loud, remembering school yesterday. In Trig, I met a guy named Mike Newton. He had tried to flirt with me saying that he was deeper than a lake. Did he think that would impress me? I told him with a smile that he was thicker than a book. He didn't get it.

As I was pondering my thoughts, I didn't notice the sun was starting to rise, casting beautiful oranges and yellows across the sky. There were a few people out, but not many. I glanced down at my iPod and noticed I had been jogging for forty minutes; probably time to head back. I decided to take a short cut and go through the gardens. I wasn't expecting anyone to be there, but a guy was jogging toward me, wearing nothing but shorts and tennis shoes. I blushed slightly, veering away from him. No use. Before I could get far enough away, he noticed me.

"Hey," He greeted me. I waved slightly and tried to keep going, but he stopped me. "Do I know you?"

I looked up at his face and froze. He had beautiful russet, copper skin. His eyes were an almond color and his hair was glossy black and cut short. He had a tattoo on his right shoulder that ran all the way down to his elbow. He smiled widely at me.

"…Jacob?" I said slowly, pulling out my ear buds. This couldn't be the same kid I grew up with before my parents split. If I had been any other person, this massive giant would have seriously intimidated me with his demeanor of a rebel. But I wasn't any other person.

"Bella?" His smile widened when I nodded. He scooped me up into his sweaty arms and swung me around. I blushed, but still laughed at his joy. Jake always had a way of making me feel better. Finally he set me on my feet and looked down at me, a huge grin on his face.

"What are you doing here?"

"Dad finally got his wish. I'm stuck here until I graduate." I shrugged. "But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the fact that you're taller than me! Since when did this happen?"

He laughed loudly. "I've changed a lot over the last ten years, Bells."

"I can tell." I said, craning my neck to look up at his face. "How tall _are_ you?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't remember. 6'4" or 6'5". Somewhere around there. How tall are you? 4'7"?"

"Ha ha very funny," I said sarcastically. "For your information, I happen to be 5'4"."

"Well, _excuse_ me!" He laughed. I narrowed my eyes at him and slugged his arm. "Ouch, you got me!" He said, teasingly. He clutched his arm and pretended to be hurt.

"Oh, shut up, Jacob." I rolled my eyes.

"It's so weird that you're here." He said, pulling out a white shirt that had been tucked into his pants. He slipped is on, covering up his ripped muscles and tattoo. Not that I was complaining; it was pretty awkward for me. "I mean, what are the odds we'd be going to the same school?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I bet my dad rigged this. You never know with him." I rolled my eyes.

Jake shook his head. "Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised."

Our dads had this idea that Jake and I would get married someday. When my parents were still married, Charlie and Billy would make Jake and I do everything together, hoping something would come from it. Too bad for them that the only relationship that formed between us was pure friendship. No wonder Charlie was so insistent that I go to HFA.

"You wanna go grab some breakfast?" Jake asked, breaking my thoughts.

I smiled up at him. "Sure. I may smell like BO, but you do too, so it's okay."

Jake threw an arm around my shoulders and led me out of the gardens. "Whatever, Swan. You know you like it."

"Uh, sure I do. Just keep telling yourself that."

The two of us ended up going to Gray Dog Coffee that was close to the dorms. I ordered the same thing Jacob did: bacon, eggs, pancakes, biscuit and gravy, hash browns, and a tall glass of OJ. Breakfast was in fact the most important meal of the day.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" I asked Jake after the waitress left to put in our orders. "Hey what's up with your hands?" I gestured to the black smudges.

He glanced down at them. "Oh, along with playing lacrosse, I like to mess around with cars. I was working on my bike last night."

"Lacrosse?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I'm not some preppy ass who sits on the sidelines, trying to look good. I'm the captain." He smiled proudly.

My heart leaped with joy. Alice had told me that to be invited to the beach party, you had to be a friend of the 'Captain McHottie Squad'. Jacob was captain of the lacrosse team and he was kinda, um, hot. Wow, that was weird to say.

"Are you going to that party on Sunday?" I asked excitedly. If Jacob would be going to the party, my day would look a whole lot brighter.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure what time I'll be there. I have some things to take care of that morning so I'll probably get there later on. Why?"

"Emmett McCarty invited me." I stated simply. "What is he captain of?"

"Hockey. The other captains are Jack Wilson, basketball captain; Jasper Whitlock, soccer captain; Drew Tilney, baseball captain; Lance Holden, tennis captain; and Edward Cullen, football captain. There are more, but those are the guys I know are going."

I hid my annoyance by grabbing the glass of OJ the waitress had just brought. Edward was going to be there? Fabulous.

"Any girls in your life?" I winked, changing the subject.

Jake laughed deeply. "No, no girlfriend for me. What about you? Any hot guys on you heels?" He teased.

"Oh yeah, it's all I can do to keep them away." I rolled my eyes, playing with my glass.

"I'm glad. None of them are good enough for you."

I smiled lightly.

"What dorm are you in?" He asked.

"Porthaven. Dacia Lindall is my roommate."

Jacob smiled and nodded his head. "That girl is extremely hot. I'm glad you're her roommate. I hear she's really nice."

_Oh brother,_ I thought. Before I could respond, two girls walked in. One had black curly hair and was short. The other was tall and blond. Both were wearing way too much makeup. As soon as they stepped through the door, they zeroed in on Jacob and waltzed over to us.

"Hey, Jacob." The blond purred. "How's it going?"

"Oh, hi Lauren, Jessica." Jake sounded surprised they were there.

"So, I heard about the party Sunday." Lauren purred. "It's supposed to be major."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Was Jake friends with these girls? If so, what did that mean? That he was one of those guys? The ones who are only as deep as they are smart, who use girls and don't care about anything but 'getting some'. Guys like Edward Cullen. My heart fell at the very thought of it.

"Yeah, I guess so." Jake replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

Lauren seemed slightly annoyed by his response. "Have you invited anyone?"

"Yeah,"

Her hazel eyes instantly short to me. I shuffled slightly under her gaze.

"I invited my sister to come."

Lauren looked surprised. "Your… sister?"

"Yeah, she's been living Hawaii for the past three years with her husband. He has a business trip in Colorado and promised they could come see us on their way home. I invited her to come on Sunday, but she said she didn't think my friends would like that. So I'm going to spend this afternoon and tomorrow morning with her and then make it to the party later." I couldn't suppress my smile. The fact that Jacob was spending time with his sister when he could have been with his friends eased my worries. What jerk would do that? None.

"Hey, did you girls need something? I wanted to talk to Bells. I haven't seen her since we were eight."

Lauren glanced between us quickly, suddenly realizing she wasn't wanted. It must have been a first for her. "Whatever." She muttered before storming off, Jessica right behind her.

"Here's your food!" Our waitress appeared suddenly, holding two big trays. "I was waiting for those girls to leave."

Jacob looked at me and smiled. "So was I."

Jake had to leave right after our breakfast, so I headed back to the dorms. I took a quick shower to get all the sweat off before going to my room. As soon as I walked through the door, I was pounced on by Alice. She pulled me over to the bed and sat cross-legged beside me.

"What's going on?" I asked, dropping my things on the ground.

"Girl, you are good." Dacia wagged her finger at me, a sly smile on her face. She was sitting at her desk, her black hair piled on top of her head.

"What?"

"First you're friends with Emmett McCarty; _now_ you're friends with _Jacob Black_? What perfume are you wearing because I gotta get some!" Alice smacked my arm playfully.

"Wait," I held my hands up, "Where did you hear that?"

She held up her cell phone. "Someone texted me about it. Apparently you were having breakfast with Jacob and someone saw him tell Lauren off so he could talk to you. You guys spend an hour together! So what's the deal? How'd you do it? I find him kind of intimidating. There's just something about him that screams I'm-cool-but-dangerous."

Trying to ignore the fact that someone was _watching Jacob and I have breakfast_, I explained to Dacia and Alice how I'd known Jacob since we were babies. "I had no idea he went to school here."

Dacia threw her head back and laughed. "Wow, what's next? Are you suddenly going to tell me that you're princess of England? I mean, what are the chances that you'd be friends with one of the hottest guys that go to our school, let alone two!"

"Yeah, it's pretty weird," I grabbed my things and went to put them away. "Why are you scared of him, Alice?" I inquired.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've never really been attracted to the bad boy types. But since you've known him since birth and he's captain of the lacrosse team, I approve of him for you."

I whipped around to look at her. "Excuse me; did you just say you '_approve of him'_?"

Dacia quickly covered for her. "As a friend, Bella, don't worry."

I let the subject drop.

Alice gasped. "Bella, you have to let me pick out your outfit for tomorrow! Please?"

I glanced at her over my shoulder. "Um, why?" I pushed Maleisha off my bed and straightened the sheets.

"Because some of the most popular people are going to be there and you need to dress to impress."

I arched an eyebrow at her.

"Not that you dress badly." Dacia quickly covered for her. "I love the artist/rebel/free spirit thing you've got going on. I always look forward to seeing what shirt you're going to wear each day."

"But I am not allowing you to go to the _beach_ while wearing jeans." Alice finished.

I sighed, knowing I didn't really have a choice. "Fine, whatever. Just please don't make me look too… not myself, okay?"

"Sure thing, Bella!" Alice said, already moving towards the door, "I already have the perfect thing in mind!"

It was the day of the party. The girls had gotten me up at a decent hour to get dressed (6:30, to be exact). I actually was kind of excited. I'd never really been invited to a party before. Besides Jake's birthdays and my parents' boring adults-talk-while-their-kids-get-stuck-with-the-nanny parties, this would be my first one. I hoped I didn't embarrass myself too much.

I was towel drying my hair in my room, watching the sun rise, when my cell phone rang with a new text. I glanced at the screen and cringed. 1. Because it was way too early for someone to be _texting_ me! 2. Because it was my father. I grabbed it and ran down the hall to the TV room that was right across the hall from the bathroom. I quietly opened the door and slipped in. The room was huge with a massive HD TV that hung on the wall and couches in different places. It was the perfect place for a big girl-get-together. I sat down on the couch and curled my legs under myself. I took a deep breath before opening the text.

_Hey, Bells. Hope you're not doing anything today. I planned for us to have lunch with the Montgomery family. They invited us over to their home. I'll pick you up at 7:30. –Charlie._

Before I even finished the message, I was rubbing my forehead in aggravation. Did he not think I had a life? That I had friends to be with? He was very confused if he thought I would clear my agenda just for _him._ I hadn't seen him since I was eight. I planned on avoiding him at all costs while I was staying in San Diego. I had barely even made it a week.

Before I could text him back telling him that I had something else to do, I remembered my mom. What would she have said? Probably that I should just go with him. "You haven't seen him in forever," She's say; "The least you can do is spend lunch with him and get it over with. Besides, he was really nice in letting you be with me for so long." I scowled at the wall, mad at Mom. She wasn't even here, and yet she was telling me what to do.

"I might as well." I muttered, quite annoyed with myself.

_Okay. I'll see you then. –B_

As I was walking out of the room, I stopped. How did he even know my number? I shivered slightly and kept walking. I pushed the door to the bathroom open. A few other girls were there, getting ready for their day. It was strange seeing the bathroom so dead when just yesterday it had been filled to the brim.

I found the girls doing their makeup in the mirror on one of the walls. They were chatting, still wearing the pj's. Their hair was up in towels, drying.

I took a breath before approaching them with the news.

"Hey, Bells!" Alice chirped. "Where have you been? We got to get to work on you! We have to leave at eight!" She came at me with mascara, but I held my hands up.

"Wait, wait. I have something to tell you." I pulled myself on top of the counter so I could look at them all. "I'm not going."

"Um, _yes_ you are." Dacia said, cocking her hip. "You can't worm your way out of this. The party only happens once a month!"

"No, I really _can't._" I stressed, using my hands to demonstrate how much. "My dad just sent me a text saying that I have to spend the day with him and his friends."

Alice slumped against the counter, staring up at him with a shocked look on her face. "What? Can't you do it next weekend?"

I sighed and shook my head. "No, there's no way out of it. My mom sorta told me I owed it to him. I haven't seen him in years."

"That really sucks." Dacia said dejectedly.

"Does this mean _we_ can't go to the party?" Rosalie asked sadly.

My eyes widened. I hadn't even thought of that. It made me even madder. Why did Charlie have to pick today? "I think you guys can still go. When I talked to Emmett, he said that would be great if you came. I don't think he would take back the invite just because I'm not there."

"We'll really miss you." Alice said sincerely. "Do you need help getting ready for your dad?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nah, I'll be fine. I'm going to run back to the room and find something to wear." I started walking towards the door, but stopped. I turned and looked back. "Alice, I was kind of excited about what you had picked out for me to wear. I guess we'll have to find something else for me to wear it to." I smiled before walking out. I tried not to be sullen about the turn of events.

I pushed the door to my room open. I went to my wardrobe and pulled my closet and pulled out a pair of dark skinny jeans and a white blouse. I pulled on a pair of sandals and a funky necklace. I felt my hair and was glad to find it dry. I twisted it into a soft, low ponytail that hung over my shoulder. I walked over to the stand up mirror and looked at myself. I smiled at my reflection, happy with my work. I glanced over my shoulder at my alarm clock and saw it was almost seven-thirty. I sighed and went to face the day.

* * *

**A/N: Last update for a while...**

**I love Jacob. (:  
**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Update, or what? So I don't know if any of you have noticed, but for the past few weeks or so FanFiction hasn't allowed people to update their stories (Error Type 2). In celebration of the fix, I'm going to put up not 1, not 2, but _3_ chapters! :D**

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Chapter 4

I stayed silent the whole ride to the Montgomerys' home. Mr. Montgomery had been friends with Charlie for as long as I could remember. The Montgommerys lived in the 'Platinum Triangle' in LA. It was a stupid name, I know. The Platinum Triangle was made up of Holmby Hills, Bel-Air, and Beverly Hills, the priciest and most exclusive neighborhoods. The Montgommerys lived right across the street from Charlie. They were always hosting big parties together, trying to have as many people as possible. It made me sick.

Charlie had picked me up in his red Ferrari, trying to be cool. Thank goodness no one was around to see. I fidgeted uncomfortably in my seat, feeling strange sitting in his car wearing a blouse and sandals. It was like an unsaid rule that I had to dress 'normally' around Charlie and his friends. The only thing that made me stand out was the big Jade elephant necklace I wore around my neck. A local woman in China had given it to me as a present.

"We're almost there," Charlie said to me. They were practically the only words we'd exchange the whole trip. Charlie and I were a lot alike in that way. We didn't have much to say.

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard and saw it was almost ten. The ride from San Diego to his house was about two hours. Thank you, Steve Jobbs, for making the iTouch. I flipped to a John Mayer song and tried not to think about what I was missing at the beach. When I had called Emmett, he seemed disappointed, like he really wanted me there. It was really hard for me not to ditch Charlie and go to the beach. I resisted, though, and told Emmett that I couldn't go. When I asked if it was okay for the girls to still go, he answered with vigor, saying that it would be great if they still came.

We arrived at the massive house at ten o'clock. Charlie pulled around the circular driveway right up to the front door. A valet came and opened my door. I smiled at him and stepped out. Charlie tossed him the keys and led me up to the front porch. I looked at the massive stone house in slight disgust. They sure went for the ostentatious look that was for sure. I think what nudged it over the edge, for me personally, was the fountain of an 'M' in the middle of their driveway. Which had spotlights. And was spinning around.

A butler greeted us at the door and led us through the house to the sitting room. It was decorated with floral couches and paintings hanging on the cream colored walls. A marble fireplace stood proudly on one wall, untouched. My foot steps were silent on the thick carpet.

"Mr. Montgomery, they Swans are here." The butler said in a posh voice. My eyes landed on the man who was leaning against the fireplace, holding a crystal glass in his hand. He was dressed casually in khaki pants and polo, paired with loafers. His hair was thinning, even though it was still jet black. Bet he had it colored. He smiled demurely at us before coming over to shake Charlie's hand.

"Good to see you again, Charlie." Mr. Montgomery said, warmly. "And you've brought a young lady with you! This couldn't be Bella! When I last you, you were only six years old."

I hadn't realized I was frowning until Charlie nudged me with his elbow. I forced a smile. "Hello, Mr. Montgomery. It's nice to see you again." I said politely.

"She's all grown up now, isn't she?" Mr. Montgomery smiled. "Do you remember my son Jack? He's about your age."

Actually I had completely forgotten about Jack and for good reasons. I had seen him twice and both times he was mean to me. He pulled my hair, made jokes at me, and called me names. Not the nicest boy around. I wasn't exactly happy to know he would be there.

"Hello, Bella." A smooth voice said from behind us. I turned around to be met by two jade eyes. Jack had grown, but he still had the same eyes and jet black hair. As soon as our eyes met, I cringed inwardly. He might appear suave and sophisticated, but I could still detect that malice in those eyes. I didn't think it was the same malice as calling me 'stupid-head', though….

"Hello, Jack." I said calmly, trying to keep my cool. I almost lost it, though, when he took a step towards me and wrapped his arms around my body in a hug. I pushed him away and took a step back, trying to keep my face smooth even though I was freaking out inside. He had just _touched_ me.

Jack laughed, "I can see you're still a spit fire."

"Yeah, that's our Bella." Charlie said with annoyance in his tone. I glanced at him and saw he was slightly irked with me. Whatever, I still hadn't gotten him making me come here.

"Marianne, the Swans are here." Mr. Montgomery said to a lady who just walked in the door. She was wearing a sleek white dress and black high heels. A large hat sat atop her head and she carried a small clutch. Mrs. Montgomery looked like an Audrey Hepburn impersonator. She smiled demurely at us before waltzing over to embrace me. Her perfume was strong and filled my nostrils. I sucked in a deep breath when she let go.

"Oh, Charlie, she really has grown up." Mrs. Montgomery smiled, her jade eyes trying to look anywhere but my nose ring. "Such a beautiful young lady. Oh, Bella, you don't have to carry that bag around. Let me call Alexander; he'll take it to the foyer."

I clutched onto my hobo bag and said, "No thanks, I got it."

"If you're sure…" Mrs. Montgomery said slowly.

"Shall we go to the porch?" Mr. Montgomery asked, gesturing towards a doorway. Without a word, Charlie followed him. Mrs. Montgomery clasped onto my arm and pulled me along, Jack trailing behind us. We walked down different halls and through a large ballroom. We finally arrived at the porch. It was made of stone and had steel railings. Fancy chairs were spread across it, giving it an inviting look. Their backyard was perfectly manicured. A large pool sat just a few yards from the deck. A pool house stood proudly next to it.

"It's looks great out here, Ron." Charlie smiled, looking at everything appreciatively. Mr. Montgomery stood next the Charlie and they started discussing the pros and cons of a certain lawn care technique. Mrs. Montgomery pulled me over to a chaise the sat under an umbrella. I sat down hesitantly next to her.

"How's school, Bella? You're going to Hanley Falls Academy, correct?" Mrs. Montgomery asked, smiling. She crossed her legs and placed her hands on her knees. The massive rock on her finger sparkled.

"Yes, I am. It's going well so far. I'm really enjoying it." I replied.

"Did you know that Jack goes to Redwood Academy?" She asked, turning to smile at Jack who had come to stand in front of us.

"Best school in California." He smiled at me. I gave him a sassy smile back. "We have the best sports teams, best testing scores, and amazing ladies."

Before Mrs. Montgomery could scold him, I said, "Is that so? I heard that HFA beat Redwood in all the championship games last year, and that HFA is home of Callie Maywood, the girl who scored perfectly on the SATS two years in a row. And as for the ladies thing, well, why don't you go Google Rosalie Hale. I'm sure a few fashion agencies will pop up." As if on cue, my cell phone started ringing. I smiled at Jack and Mrs. Montgomery. "Excuse me. I have to take this." I stood from the chair and walked away. I stepped into the house and glanced over my shoulder. Mrs. Montgomery seemed to be giving Jack a lecture. I laughed.

I pushed the 'Talk' button on my phone. "Hello?"

"How's my baby doing?" A familiar voice said.

I smiled and instantly felt relaxed. "Mom, I'm so glad to hear from you. I'm doing okay. Charlie dragged me along to the Montgomerys' house today for lunch." I didn't tell her about the part where I missed the beach party. I didn't want to give Renѐe another reason to murder Charlie.

"Oh, Bells, I'm sorry. Is Jack being a creeper again?"

I laughed. "Of course. I can't wait to go back to school. I'm actually enjoying it."

"Do my ears deceive me? Did my baby girl just say that she _liked going to high school_? Someone call the doctor!" Renѐe teased.

"Ha ha, very funny." Before we say anything else, I saw Charlie turn and start looking for me. "Mom, I wish I could talk longer, but Charlie is looking for me. I gotta go."

"Okay, sweetie. Have fun and behave!" I wanted to laugh at the 'behave' part. I quickly said goodbye before hanging up. I opened the glass door and stepped out onto the porch.

"There you are, Bella." Charlie said, walking up to me. "Where did you go?"

I slid my hands into my back pockets. "Um, Mom called. I was just talking to her for a moment."

"How is Renѐe?" Mrs. Montgomery asked with a mocking smile on her face. She never did like my mother. She was probably just jealous because Renѐe didn't look a day over thirty-five even though she'd never had plastic surgery.

"She's fine, thank you." I replied. I could tell Mrs. Montgomery was about to say more, but just then the butler came out with drinks. He offered us each a glass of water. I declined politely.

The adults and Jack stood together talking about nothing while I sat on a chaise, staring off into space. It was eleven-thirty now. The girls were probably having an awesome time at the beach, enjoying the sun and water. I mentally slapped myself for thinking about them. I was _not_ going to have a pity party for myself. That was foolish and childlike.

For the next thirty minutes, Charlie and the Montgomerys talked, boasting of different things they owned (cars, vacation homes, imported Koi fish that swam in the fountain that sat in the back yard, how far they could hit a golf ball – yeah, I know.) I was just sitting on the chaise, bored out of my mind, when Mr. Montgomery decided to 'make my day'…

"Jack, why don't you show Bella the pool," Mr. Montgomery said, "I don't think they have many of those in Africa or wherever she was staying last." Charlie and Mrs. Montgomery laughed. I rolled my eyes at the stupid joke.

"Actually before I came to California, Mom and I were staying with an old friend of hers - Senior De Luca. He has an Italian villa right on the coast. We would ride out on his yacht everyday and swim in the ocean. Why would I need a pool if I have the ocean?" By the time I finished, Charlie's eyes were tinged with annoyance. Oops, did I just embarrass you in front of your friends? Sorry about that, _Daddy…_ Not wanting to get in an argument afterwards with Charlie, I quickly added, "I would like to see your pool, though." Before anymore words were exchange, I walked off the porch and to the pool. I could feel Jack following closely behind me. I stopped at the edge of the pool.

"Yep, it's a great pool alright." I said, turning around. I flinched when I realized how close Jack was.

"What a lovely necklace." Jack said, leaning closer. I inched back. My heels hit the edge of the pool. My hand shot up and grasped the elephant.

"Thanks…" I said slowly.

"You really have grown up, Bella; in more ways than one." Jack's eyes racked over my body. It wasn't like I had a lot to show off. I barley even fit into a B-cup bra! "There's going to be a party later on. You wanna come?"

I eyed him warily. Charlie would be angry if I didn't accept the invitation. "Where will it be?" I asked.

"In my bedroom," He inched closer, his face extremely close to mine. I could smell his cologne now and it was clouding my sense. "It'll just be you and me…" That woke me up.

I smiled demurely up at him and pressed my hands against his chest. "Do you wanna know what I think about you, Jack?" I purred. I could see his eyes clouding over. I internally cringed at what his mind was conjuring up. I kept smiling though, and ran my hands lower and lower to waist band of his pants. "Do you wanna know what I _really_ want to do, Jack?" I hooked my fingers in his belt loops.

"What?" He inquired with a thick voice.

My smile instantly disappeared. "This!" With that, I whipped him around by the belt loops and flung him into the pool. He was a heavy guy, but thanks to my 'womanly charms' (ha ha) I had made him less aware. "You're a _jerk_!" I yelled. I heard shouting from the porch. I turned and saw the adults coming towards us. I couldn't take it anymore. Screw Charlie and his friends. I didn't care what they thought about me. I was already going to the school Charlie wanted me to attend. There was no deal about me acting like a prim and proper princess around his friends.

I ran across the lawn to the fence. I could hear Mrs. Montgomery screaming my name, but I didn't care. I pulled myself over the fence and dropped into the other yard. A couple lounging around their pool stared at me. I waved slightly before jogging away. I pushed open the gate and kept going. I ran down the street, passing perfectly trimmed yards and gorgeous houses filled with snobby people. My feet were starting to hurt. I wished I'd worn my Converse. I was already starting to sweat when I came to a gazebo that sat in the middle of a roundabout. I sat down in it, catching my breath, and thought about what to do. I would _not_ go back to the Montgomery's house. I could call someone, but I didn't know anybody close enough to come get me. I pulled out my wallet from my bag and looked through it. I had a few tens and a credit card I never used. I could probably get a taxi to take me some of the way…

As I was debating my plan, a loud motor came towards me. At first I thought it was Charlie or one of the Montgomerys, but the motor didn't sound like a car. I looked closer and saw…

"_Jacob?_" I gasped, standing up. There he sat on a jet black, sexy motorcycle. He held a dark helmet in his hands, looking at me in surprise. "What are you _doing_ here?" I demanded, shocked. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. There was no way in this world anything like this would happen at a time I needed it most.

"I could ask you the same thing." He replied, cutting the engine. "I thought you were at the beach party."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I wish. Charlie made plans to visit the Montgomerys today."

"Wow that sucks. Why aren't you at the Pansy Palace now?"

I smiled, a thought popping into my head. "Give me a ride back to school and I'll tell you how I kicked Jack's butt."

Jake held out his helmet to me. "I'll give you a ride to China just to hear that story."

"So what are you doing in L.A.?" I asked after telling him the story. We had stopped by a little diner once we got back to San Diego. Charlie had called my cell phone eight times before I turned it off. I had a feeling he was pissed off with me.

"I was visiting my sister, remember? My parents live in Bel-Air."

"Oh, yeah! Did you have a good time?" I shifted in my seat to look at him and pulled my legs up under me, slipping my sandals off. "How is Rebecca?"

"She's great. More than great, actually. Becca just told us that she and Jason are expecting twins this spring. Rachel is already planning the shower." He played with the handle of his of his coffee mug. His fingers were stained with something black – oil maybe?

My face broke out into a smile. "Seriously? Jake, that's amazing! I'm so happy for them!" I paused. "Uncle Jakeykins." I giggled.

Jacob cut me a look. "Never call me that again. Ever. It's almost as bad as Lauren Mallory trying to call me J-Dog."

I stared at him, speechless, before breaking out into peals of laughter. "You have _got_ to be joking."

He shook his head sadly, taking a sip of coffee. "I wish I was. She called me that twice before I told her to stop. That girl is so desperate it's not even funny."

"I find it quite humorous, actually." Jake rolled his eyes.

The bell over the door chimed, proclaiming someone was walking through the door. I glanced over and recognized a girl from my Lit class. She was talking loudly with her friends. When they saw Jake they started waving and calling to him. He turned around to wave at them for a moment before going back to his coffee.

"Should I be worried?" I asked, nodding at them.

"Those girls? Oh, no, they're harmless. What you should look out for, though, is Tanya Denali and her twin sister Heidi. Those girls are evil. I've managed so far not to have any classes with them. But then again I've only been to my afternoon classes."

"Who are Tanya and Heidi?" I asked, interested.

Jacob glanced at me. "You haven't encountered them yet? Lucky you. Why don't you ask Dacia about them? I know she has had a few run-ins with Heidi. She probably knows more than I do."

Jacob tossed a few one dollar bills on the table before standing up. "You ready?" He asked. I nodded and followed him out the door. We climbed back onto his bike, me safely wearing his helmet, before he gunned the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. I held onto his waist, my head resting on his back. Trees, cars, and people raced by as Jake flew by.

Jake pulled into the dorm parking lot. Students were milling about campus, enjoying their Sunday. As the two of us stepped off the bike and I pulled the helmet, two brunette girls gave me the death glare. _What's with the sudden hate?_ I thought to myself. Jake threw his arm around my shoulders and I suddenly knew why those girls were angry.

"So, how about we meet back at my car in twenty minutes and then go down to that party? It's about ten minutes away." Jake said as we walked up to Wellington. I took in a deep breath of the clean air. The sky was perfectly clear and the sun was shining. It was the perfect day to be at the beach. But I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that it wouldn't be the same if I went. I would feel awkward and out of place.

"Actually, I think I'll take a rain check on that." I told Jake.

"Wow the Montgomerys must have really messed you up. You _always_ want to be at the beach." His tone was surprised.

I laughed. "Yeah, I know. I guess I'm just not in the mood. But you go on ahead and have fun. Surf some waves for me." I smiled.

Jake looked out me doubtfully before saying, "Okay, Bells… I'll see you tomorrow."

I waved at Jacob as we parted in the Courtyard. I jogged back to my dorm and up to my room. I stripped off my blouse and put on a grey t-shirt with the flag of Kenya. I flung off my sandals and jumped on my bed, accidently shaking Maleisha awake. That cat seemed to love my bed no matter how much I shoved her off. Oh, well. I laid there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, before jumping up and throwing the windows open. A warm breeze met me and swirled about the room. I got _Wuthering Heights _from my bag and curled up on my bed. I patted Maleisha on the head before opening my book to the fist page. I don't know how long I stayed like that, turning each page as quickly as I could, before the sun set. The only thing that broke me from my book-spell was the laughter from outside. I rolled off the bed and landed on the floor. I sat up on my knees, propped my elbows on the windowsill, and looked out. Two people were walking close to my dorm, talking. The girl had a loud, tinkling laugh. I watched them walk around the building and disappear. I took in a deep breath and rubbed my forehead. I thought about all the things I had to do. Calling Renѐe was at the top of that list. I grabbed my cell phone and turned it on. I had two missed calls from Charlie with voicemails about how I was probably 'grounded until further notice'. I rolled my eyes at the very thought of it. I had lost my respect for Charlie a long time ago. The only parent I thought well of was Renѐe, and she hardly ever grounded me.

I dialed her number and waited. She picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Mom, it's me." I smiled at just hearing her voice.

"Oh, hey, Bella!" I could practically hear her smiling. "How's it going, babe? Did you survive the day?"

I pressed my back up against the wall, the top of my head hitting the windowsill. "Yeah, um, about that – if Charlie or the Montgomerys call, _don't answer the phone._"

Silence. "Bella, what did you do?"

"Mom, you know how Jack is a total jerk and how I can't stand people like that? Well, I might have thrown him in the pool, jumped the Montgomerys' fence, and made a break for it."

Renѐe was laughing on the other end before I even finished like I knew she would. "How did you get back?

"Actually, that's a funny story-"

"This whole thing is funny, Bella."

"Jake was visiting his family that day and saw me. I completely forgot the Blacks lived in Beverly Hills. Anyways, Jacob gave me a ride back to HFA."

"That was nice of him. But Bella, you do know that Charlie is going to be extremely angry, right?"

I sighed, rubbing my nose. "Yeah, I know. Do I care? No."

"Bella…." Renѐe trailed off.

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll try to be nicer to his friends next time. But, Mom, if Jack tries to make another move on him, I can't promise you that I won't kick him where the sun doesn't shine."

Renѐe laughed. "That's all I ask." It was funny how Renée was so calm about things like that. She wasn't like other moms. She was one of the most free-spirited people I knew, always going where the wind took her. That also meant her focus went to other places. Like the time she enrolled in a ceramics class; she lost interest in it after a week. Or the time when she started taking a cake decorating class; that didn't last after the first lesson. That was how Renée was.

We talked for about an hour longer before she had to go make dinner. I hung up my cell phone and stood up. Right at that moment, the girls came into the room, chatting and laughing. With them, they brought the smell of the beach. I smiled at them and flopped down on my bed.

"Hey, how was it?" I asked.

Dacia dropped her things onto the ground and gave a blissful sigh before falling on my bed next to me. "Three words," She held up her fingers. "I'm – in – love."

I looked to Rosalie and Alice for help. "She's talking about Drew Tilney, captain of the baseball team." Rosalie filled me in. "Dacia's had her eye on him for a while, but they officially met just this morning at the beach."

"He's amazing." Dacia sighed. "Too bad he's dating Lexi. I guess for now we'll just have to be friends."

"For now," Alice winked at her. "So, Bella how was your day?"

I debated on telling them the truth or not. "It was interesting…."

"I can sense a story coming on." Alice said, pulling Dacia to her feet. "Let us take a quick shower and we'll be back in about twenty five minutes, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, watching them go. I stood and closed our windows and curtains. I threw on a pair of sweats and decided to go down to Starbucks and treat the girls to a hot chocolate before bed. I threw my hair up in a sloppy ponytail, grabbed my wallet, and slipped on Dacia's flip flops that she'd left next to my bed. The hallways were crowded with people trying to squeeze a little more fun into the last moments of their weekend. I navigated my way through the halls, passing people I didn't even know. A few girls looked at me strangely, but I ignored them. As soon as I stepped out into the Courtyard, I could hear the noises coming from different dorms. Faint laughter filled the air. A few people were out walking, but most were inside. If I listened hard enough, I could hear a few crickets chirping away. As soon as I entered the Starbucks, I kind of regretted it. It was filled to the brim with teenagers, all shouting to their friends and laughing. I sighed deeply and got in line. I was standing there, staring off into space when I heard someone shouting. Yes, there was _a lot_ of shouting, but this person kept shouting the same name over and over again. The only reason I caught onto it was because the person's name was Bertha. I chuckled to myself. _What parent would name their child _Bertha_?_ I thought. I looked towards the person who was shouting it and saw that it was a barista behind the counter… staring right at me. I scrunched my eyebrows and looked back behind me. The only people there were a group of teenage guys. I looked back towards the front and saw that he was still staring at me, smiling. Then something clicked. That was the same barista Dacia and I had run into on my first day at HFA. _I_ was Bertha. I blushed slightly. The guy waved for me to come to the front. I slowly made me way up, getting evil glares from the people who had been waiting much longer than I.

"Um, hey," I said to the guy, holding my wallet awkwardly. Why was he talking to me? Why did he even _remember_ me?

"Hey, Bertha!" He smiled, "What can I get for you?"

I glanced at the long line that was now behind me. "Um, what about all the other people?"

The guy waved them off dismissively. "They can wait." By the grumbling behind me, I knew they couldn't. "Now, what can I get for you?"

"Listen," I looked at his name tag, "Mark, I don't think it's-"

"Bertha, it's okay. What do you want to drink?" Mark said, cutting me off. I let out a deep breath and ordered four tall hot chocolates. As Mark went off to make the drinks, I turned to the guy behind me who appeared to be a sophomore and mouthed an 'I'm sorry'. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'It's okay, whatever'. I smiled slightly at him before moving to the pickup counter. Mark had made the drinks in record time and was sliding them out to me before I could even put my change away.

"Four hot chocolates for the lovely Bertha," He smiled. Now that I was this close to him, I could see the acne on his chin.

"Uh, thanks." I told him, grabbing the drink carrier and starting to walk away. I could hear him calling behind me, but I didn't turn. I was _not_ going to let some barista boy get the hots for me. I walked out the door and down the sidewalk. I balanced the drink carrier carefully, trying not to spill anything. Just as I was turning the corner by Wellington that led into the Courtyard, someone bumped into me. I gave a wild gasp, desperately trying not to drop the drinks. The person grabbed my arms, steadying me.

"Whoa, careful there, Kenya." A smooth voice said. I looked up into two emerald eyes. I jumped slightly when I realized it was Edward Cullen. He was wearing shorts and a blue polo. His bronze hair was rumpled, but still looked good. I pulled my arms away from him and muttered an apology.

"Hey, you're that girl," Edward started, "The one I ran into a few days ago. I'm really sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

I blushed. For whatever reason, I have no clue. I shifted nervously to my left foot. "Um, it's okay."

"Hey, Edward!" Edward and both turned to look behind me. Two girls were heading our way. They were tall and beautiful. The blond waved to him. I turned just in time to see him wave back slightly. He had a grimace on his face. "Yeah, well, um, bye." I told him, scampering away.

"Later, Kenya!" He called after me. I rolled my eyes at the name. I headed back to the dorm and up to my room. I shut the door behind me with my foot. Glancing at my desk and all its clutter I decided to put the drinks on Dacia's desk. I moved a few books and set the drink carrier down. The school newspaper caught my eye. I'd never read it before, but I'd seen Melanie and a few other people reading it. Picking it up, I sat down cross-legged on Dacia's bed and opened the paper up. It talked of different places to buy school books, upcoming social events, and how two teachers were caught making out behind the gym. _Wow, that's mature of the,_ I thought to myself. Turning the page, I saw a picture of all the sports captains in front of the school. Each one had their varsity jacket on and was giving their best smiles. I noticed Jacob, Emmett, and Edward next to each other. The headline was 'Try-outs Monday After School!' in bold. I read a little about each team before turning the page.

"We're back!" The door opened and the girls walked in. Dacia sniffed the air. "I smell Starbucks." Her eyes zeroed in on her desk. She zoomed over and picked one up. After taking a sip, she said, "Thanks, Bells. You're great."

I smiled and folded up the paper. "No problem. So, tell me everything."

We spent the rest of the evening sitting on the floor and talking about the beach party, my adventure at the Montgomerys, and the Denali twins.

"I can't _stand_ them!" Dacia exclaimed, kicking her feet. Alice had just explained to me about how the Denalis had picked on Dacia, Rosalie, and herself ever since freshman year. "They burn me up!"

"Agreed!" Rosalie said, raising her cup. "When I was dating Felipe, Heidi tried to move in on him!" She huffed. "Well, she can have that freak."

Alice grasped on to Rosalie's arm. "Oh, my gosh! Did you break up with him?"

Rosalie smiled. "Yeah, right after the party. I know it's kinda shallow to dump someone over text, but I did."

Dacia started clapping. Alice threw her hands in the air. "Hallelujah! What took you so long?"

"I had to make sure it was official that Emmett and Tiffany weren't together any more. The party proved it. Now I just have to use my womanly charms to real him in."

Alice laughed. "Girl, you're crazy."

"Oh, like you weren't watching Jasper the whole time?"

Alice jumped on her. "Was I that obvious?"

Dacia laughed. "Oh, yes! But then again, so was he." She winked at me.

Alice blushed slightly. "I wish I could talk to him."

"Why don't you?" I asked.

"She has this theory that the guy should talk to you first." Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"I think that's great." Dacia said, coming to Alice's defense. "We all can't be as foreword as you, Rose."

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "I am what I am. And right now, I'm tired. It's almost eleven o'clock. Ali, come on we should get to bed." The two girls stood up and bid us goodnight before going off to their own room. Dacia and I prepared for bed and turned off the lights. I fell asleep quickly and dreamed of nothing.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I headed to my Lit class, actually excited. Miss Brontё knew literature and because of that I found an unsaid companionship with her. I walked into her class with five minutes to spare. Miss Brontё was leaning against her desk, reading _Wuthering Heights_. Her face was the picture of complete concentration. She was wearing a high-waist black skirt and a white blouse. Her shoes were red with little bows and were deathly high.

"Good morning, Miss Swan." She said without looking up from her book.

"Morning, Miss Brontё." I returned before sitting down at my desk. I crossed my jean clad legs and pulled out my own copy of _Wuthering Heights_. A few people filed into the class, taking their seats. I didn't look up when someone sat in the empty desk next to mine.

"Hey there, Kenya." The person said in a smooth voice. My head jerked up and I looked into Edward Cullen's eyes. He smiled crookedly at me.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

He arched an eyebrow. "It's a little thing called high school. Everyone our age goes through it."

I rolled my eyes, but ignored his remark. Instead, I went back to reading. I didn't know what was up with this guy, but it was kind of annoying. _Didn't he have some girl to flirt with? _I thought to myself. Speak of the devil, and he will appear. Or rather, devil_s_. Just at that moment, two girls walked into the class like they owned the place. One had long blond hair and hazel eyes. The other had long brown hair and strange violet eyes. They were tall, tan, and beautiful. I watched over the top of my book as the blond zeroed in on Edward. The two girls walked over to him and sat down in the empty desks in front of and beside him. My lip curled slightly when I recognized the blond from my gym class. She must have been Edward's girlfriend.

The bell rang. Miss Brontё closed the door and walked back to her desk, her heels clacking. I pulled out my notepad and pencil. "Morning, everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I assume you all made time to pick up the books that I asked you to. If not, you need to get them this afternoon. The first book we'll be reading is _Wuthering Heights_." She wrote the name in fancy script on the board. "It's set in the early 1800's in England. For those of you who have read it before, you'll know that this is a very dark, depressing book. Actually, when Emily Brontё died her sister, Charlotte Brontё, stated, 'Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is.' I agree with her. As you will find out when we read this book, I despise Heathcliff."

My eyes widened slightly. Hate Heathcliff? How could any _hate Heathcliff_? They might not like him very much, but _hate_? That shocked me. I had always loved Heathcliff from the start.

"I do have an extra credit opportunity for you all after reading the book. If any of you want to get up here and debate with me about Heathcliff, you may. It will be worth fifteen extra points on your finals. But I must warn you, I am very vehement when it comes to Mr. Heathcliff."

I wrote down the extra credit debate. I would of course be doing it. However, I would have to work up enough courage. Not that I was afraid to fight her, no, not at all. It was more of the getting up in front of the whole class and doing it. I was never a big fan of crowds.

"In this class, I will embarrass you if need be." Miss Brontё informed us, coming to stand in front of her desk again. "I didn't warn you all about that on Friday because not everyone was here. A few things you should know about me is that I am very opinionated and am not afraid to tell you it. My mother always told me that opinions are a lot like a-holes. Everyone has one, but nobody wants to see it." Laughter rippled across the room. "Another thing: I do not take excuses!" She smacked her hand against her desk with each word. "When an assignment is due, it is _due_. I don't _care_ if you were sick the day it's supposed to be turned in. You could have turned it in earlier! It will be marked down a letter grade for everyday it's late. So unless you are suddenly taken out of HFA or die, it has to be turned in." I smiled at how no-nonsense she was.

"If you have any questions about a paper or whatever, please do not call me past ten o'clock. I am either out with my friends or asleep. If it's the latter and you dare to call me, I will hang up on you." Brontё continued. "Do any of you have questions for me? Don't be shy, because I surely am not. Ask away." She picked up a mug from her desk and took a sip of coffee.

A guy across the room asked, "Who made you _become_ this way? You're like the devil!" A few people laughed.

Brontё pointed her finger at him. "Wrong! I am not like the devil! I'm like my old Lit teacher, Mrs. Shenk! I got all my teaching characteristics from her. If you have any complaints about how I am in school hours, talk to her. But I must warn you; aside from the facts that she's on the school board now, is not even five feet tall, and used to wear a cheese hat to class if her favorite football team won – she will crush you like a bug." People laughed at this.

The beautiful brunette who was sitting in front of Edward spoke up. "Are you shoes Valentino?" Wow, that was a really _random_ question.

Brontё glanced down at her red, peep toe shoes. "Um, yes they are. My friend bought them for me." Walking around her desk, she went to the board and said, "Alright, question time is over. Pull out something to write on. We're going over this week's homework."

I walked down the hall to my next class, my sandals smacking against the ground. Mike Newton had caught me right after I walked out of Lit class and was currently talking my ear off. I could have slugged Edward when he started chuckling at the look on my face. The nerve of that guy really ticked me off. I needed to ask Dacia about him.

"Bella, did you hear me?" Mike asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Um, sorry, what?" I asked.

"I said what are you doing after school?" He repeated; his voice nervous.

I blushed and stared at him for a second. Was he trying to ask me out? "Um… I think I-I… I gotta go to class!" I stated before dashing off down the hall. I heard Mike calling after me, but I didn't turn around. I rushed into my German class and fell down in my desk. I pulled out my thick German textbook and pretended that I was reading it. Mike Newton just got bumped up a notch on my People To Avoid list.

Someone tapped on my desk. I jumped practically three feet in the air. Clutching my heart, I looked up into Masen's face. He was trying to repress a smile. "What the crap, Masen?" I yelled, not caring if people looked. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Masen laughed silently. He sat down in the desk next to mine and pulled out a pad of paper. He quickly wrote on it before showing it to me. _**I was just making sure you were okay. You looked way too caught up in that text book… **_

I smiled as I read that. "Ha ha, no, I was just trying to hide from someone."

Masen arched an eyebrow at me before writing: _**The textbook isn't **_**that**_** big. You're really short and all, but I don't think it could hide you. Try under the desk next time.**_

I rolled my eyes and smiled at him. "I didn't even know you were in this class. I didn't see you last Friday."

_**I guess you were too caught up in German. Es ist eine sehr interessante Sprache, nachdem alle. **_

"Yeah, it's the most exciting language I have _ever_ learned." I said sarcastically. Actually, I really liked German. I was eager to return to Germany when I graduated.

_**To each his own, I guess…**_

"Whatever, Masen," I shook my head, laughing lightly. I turned to look at the front of the room where the teacher had just walked in. A few more people hurried in after him, barley making it in time. I smiled at Suzie as she rushed through the door and to her desk. She waved at me, looking a bit flustered.

"Turn you textbooks open to chapter one, please." Mr. Von Tressar said, his accent thick. Throughout the whole class, I took detailed notes. Mr. Von Tressar shared stories from the days when he lived in Germany and Austria, which I loved to hear about. The bangles on my wrist tinkled when I wrote. I eventually took them off for the time being because they were slightly annoying. I looked up at Mr. Von Tressar who was speaking in German to a guy in the front. The guy seemed to be doing okay, but he messed up a few words. I glanced over at Masen. He caught my gaze and turned to wink at me. I blushed slightly and looked down at my notebook.

The bell rang shortly after that. Masen and I walked down the hall, me talking and him writing. Masen walked me to my Trig class and said (wrote?) that he'd see me in History. I watched him walk down the hall, his brown/bronze hair disappearing in the crowd. I walked into my class and sat down at my desk, dying for lunch to hurry up and arrive. Just as I was pulling out my Trig book, a booming voice from the front of the class said, "Bella!" I looked up to see Emmett beaming at me. Jake stood beside him, an amused look on his face. I smiled and waved awkwardly at them. Emmett lumbered over to me, Jacob following.

"This class just got a whole lot better." Emmett smiled, taking the desk behind me while Jake took the one to my right. I turned to talk to them better. "Jacob, you know Bella, right?"

Jacob shared a smile with me. "Yeah, we've known each other for a while." He winked.

"We really missed you yesterday, Bella." Emmett said, completely oblivious to Jacob and my exchange.

"I wish I could have been there." I told them, truly meaning it. "Some things came up, though."

"Dacia told me. I hope you had a good time with your dad, though."

"Eh, not really. I don't really like his friends. We had a little… mishap. I ended up coming home early." Jacob laughed.

Emmett looked between the two of us. "I get the feeling that I'm missing something, but I'm not sure if I want to know…"

"Witch alert." Jacob muttered suddenly, turning further in his seat to face me. I looked towards the front of the class and saw the two girls from my Lit class. _Not them again!_ I thought to myself. I sighed heavily and started playing with my cartilage earring.

"Just when I thought it was better, _they_ show up." Emmett groaned. "Why does third period hate me so much?"

"Who _are_ they?" I asked, exasperated. Every time I saw those girls, I thought of Edward Cullen. That didn't give me happy thoughts at all.

"Remember the other day when I told you about Heidi and Tanya Denali?"

I groaned. "Let me guess: that's them?"

"Bingo." Emmett said, leaning back in his seat, trying to remain unseen. Luckily, Mr. Varner walked in, saving Emmett and Jacob from being seen by the two girls. For the next hour, he droned on about Trigonometric formulas and what not. I tried to pay attention, but it was hard. I had never been a fan of math.

Finally, the bell rang. Mr. Varner had to yell over the voices to tell us about our homework.

"I feel like my head my combust." Emmett said as we made out the door. "Seriously, you might want to stand back."

I started to laugh, but then I saw Heidi and Tanya coming our way. Before I could warn the guys, the twins were upon us. "Hey, guys," Heidi purred. The guys' faces were priceless. I would have burst out laughing, but I felt bad for them. I stood next to the wall, trying to remain unnoticed. I didn't need people like them to hate me.

"H-hey, Heidi." Jake said nervously. "I didn't see you coming." By the look on Heidi's face, she found it hard to believe that someone didn't notice her.

"Great party yesterday, Emmett," Tanya said. "I had a great time."

"Um, thanks." He said awkwardly. "I'd like to stay and talk longer, but we gotta get to class, right Jake?"

Jacob quickly agreed. Before the twins could say another word, the boys grabbed me by the arms and pulled me away. Right as we were turning the corner, I saw Heidi narrow her eyes at me. My heart dropped into my stomach. Without any words, I knew Heidi had me on her list.

"I have a total of two hotties in my class." Suzie said proudly, plopping down across from me. I arched an eyebrow at Dacia in confusion.

Dacia smirked at Suzie. "Ha! I have three! Beat that," She threw her hands out in a bring-it-on kind of way.

"We're even." Melanie said, sitting down next to Suzie. "I also have three."

"Rose and I each have four." Alice said, sitting down next to Dacia. Rosalie plopped down across from her, next to Melanie. Alice sighed blissfully. "Jasper and I have Spanish together."

"I feel a study date coming on!" Suzie teased, laughing. "Oh, Jasper! Say something sexy in Spanish to me!" She said in a high pitched voice. Angling her body a different way, she said in a deeper voice, "¡Bebé, usted está tan caliente mis pies sudan!"

Alice slammed her hands against the table. "I'm not very good at Spanish, but did you just say something about sweating feet?"

The girls laughed and went on teasing Alice a little more.

"What about you, Bells?" Dacia asked, turning to me. "How many do you have in your classes?"

I looked at her blankly before it hit me."Please don't tell me you're talking about that Captain McHottie Team or whatever you call it."

"Captain McHottie _Squad_, thank you very much!" Suzie corrected. "How many guys do you have in your classes?"

I rubbed my forehead. "I don't know – how do I know who counts as one?"

"All of the guys were wearing their letterman jackets today." Dacia informed me.

"Oh, well then…" I mentally counted all the jackets I saw in my classes. "Um, I have Jacob in Trig _and_ History, so does that count as one or two?"

"It only counts as one, but that's still pretty epic. Jacob Black is a major hottie." Suzie shared a smile with Melanie.

I shuddered at the fact that someone would label _Jacob_ as a 'major hottie'. "Um, I have about six or seven."

The girls stared at me in shock. "What… the fudge." Alice said slowly.

"Dacia, I officially hate your roommate." Suzie said, leaning back in her chair.

"Hey, it's not like I even care." I told them, "I'm not trying to snag any of them. Jake and I have been friends since we were in dippers, and I _just_ met Emmett a few days ago. Besides those two, I don't know any of the other guys. I don't even want to date a jock. Heck, I don't even want to date. I just want to get out of high school."

"Hello, ladies; mind if we join you?" A voice said from behind me. Emmett plopped down in the chair next to Rosalie, his tray filled with food. Jake pulled out the chair next to Suzie and sat down. Masen smiled at me before sitting down in the chair beside mine. A few other jocks joined us.

"Wow, Emmett, do you have enough to eat?" Rosalie asked sarcastically, staring at his tray.

Emmett stared at the mound of food like someone had stolen something while he wasn't looking. "You're right! I forgot the desert! I'll be right back." Without another word, Emmett popped out of his chair and ran towards the food line. I chuckled to myself.

As I turned my head, Suzie caught my eye and mouthed the words: _I love you!_ I rolled my eyes, but smiled at her. Glancing at all the jocks sitting at our table, I thought to myself, _Why are they all sitting here? I can understand Jake and sorta Emmett, but why the others?_ Shrugging mentally, I took a bite into my apple and figured they were here because of the girls. _They must have hit if off really well at the party_, I thought. I watched across the table as Alice and a tall blond guy chatted. That must have been Jasper. I recognized him from my History class. I smiled slightly at the way Alice moved her hands wildly to describe something.

A chair screeched across the linoleum floor. I turned just in time to see Edward Cullen sitting down next to Jake. What was he doing here?

"Hey, Jake, how's it going?" Edward asked, unwrapping a sandwich.

"Hey, man," Jake returned, forking a green bean and popping it into his mouth. "Just thinking about this afternoon. I've had like four guys already come up to me and say they're going to try out for lacrosse."

"Yeah, same here. A few of my good players from last year won't be on the team again because of they either graduated or just dropped out because they 'couldn't take the stress'." Edward made air quotes.

Jake laughed. "Dude, some guys just don't have what it takes." The two continued conversing about sports as if they were old friends. Wait what if they were… No, the thought was too weird. Jake could never be friends with a player like Edward Cullen. Maybe, since they were both captains, they had to be friends. It was like this unsaid rule at HFA that all sports captains were friends. Maybe Jake was just trying to be nice.

By the way they were palling in around, I really doubted that.

Something nudged my elbow. I looked down and saw Masen's notebook by my arm. _**What are you staring at? **_

I blushed, not realizing that I had been staring at Jake and Edward. Wow, that was embarrassing. Masen probably thought I was a creep.

_Nothing. I gotta go. See ya later, Masen._ I quickly wrote back in my chicken scrawl. Masen arched an eyebrow at me as I gathered my things together. I took one last bite from my apple before chucking it on Dacia's tray.

"Hey, girl, what's the rush?" Dacia asked, breaking off her conversation with Melanie. "Class doesn't start for another ten minutes."

I stared at her blankly, trying to find an answer to her question. Really, I just wanted to get away from Edward. I felt… weird around him. I'd never gotten that feeling before I met him, and I didn't like it. "Um… I'm just gonna get there early. See you in class, Dacia." I told her before scooting my chair back.

"Okay, see you later…" She replied, staring at me suspiciously.

"Bye, Bells!" Jake said, noticing me leaving. "I'll see later!" He gave me his awesome smile. I had to smile back despite the person sitting next to him. I mean, come on, it was Jacob.

"Bye, Jake." I told him. "See ya later, Masen." I waved before walking away.

Before I was completely out of ear shot, I could have sworn Dacia asked, "Masen, what's up with her?"

I ended up sitting on a staircase close to my Biology class, sketching out a tulip. The hallways were busy and noisy, but I just tuned them out and went about my own business. As soon as the bell rang, I put away my things and went to Biology. I wanted to snag Dacia as soon as I got there and ask her about Edward and that Lauren girl. Stepping into the classroom, I saw that Dacia was already there, sitting next to a guy. He had short jet black hair and skin that looked like cocoa. He wore a white t-shirt that accentuated his muscles. His eyes sparkled as he talked to Dacia. _So that must be Drew Tilney…_ I thought to myself as I caught Dacia's eye and waved. She wiggled her fingers back at me before turning to talk to Drew. _They make a cute couple_, I thought. I decided to talk to her later about Edward.

I glanced around the room before walking to an empty lab in the middle of the room. I hung my bag on the back of my chair after pulling out my notebook. I started doodling little nothings on the side. I was starting to let my thoughts wander when the sound of a chair screeching across the floor made me jump. I looked up at the person who was sitting down next to me. My eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. Edward Cullen dropped his bag on the floor and slid into the chair next to me. I looked at him in horror as he pulled out his things. _What was he doing here?_

I looked over at Dacia, a shocked look on my face. She winked and gave me thumbs up. _What the crap?_ I thought. I looked at the table next to me as if it would have the answer to why Dacia was… _happy_ for me. I jumped slightly when I realized that all the table had was two girls giving me the death glare. I could have sworn one was foaming at the mouth…

I looked back at Edward. He was turning to look at me at the exact moment. We stared at each other for a fraction of a second before I said, "Couldn't you have sat somewhere _else_?" I hadn't meant for my voice to be so vicious, but I wasn't sorry for it.

Edward stared at me with green eyes that were brewing a storm. In a cool voice he replied, "All the other labs were taken. Sorry to inconvenience you." He turned away and looked toward the front of the class.

"Whatever, Cullen," I rolled my eyes. "Just try to keep up. I know you probably have the IQ of a two-year-old, but I'm not doing all the work for you."

He's eyes flashed with anger. "I'm going to ignore the fact that you just implied I am a simpleton. And even if I was, I would never ask _you_ for help."

Seething, I turned to look at the teacher who'd just walked in. He was a thin, almost scrawny, man with thick glasses and thinning hair. He set his thick books down on the desk and turned to look at the class.

"Hello, everyone, so sorry I'm late! My name is Mr. Banner and I'm your biology teacher. Um, welcome to Biology 2… I don't really have much of an introduction, so let's just jump in." Mr. Banner proceeded to start telling us about the reproduction of sponges… I took precise notes, ignoring the person sitting next to me. He actually had the audacity to scoot his chair to the end of the desk, as far away from me as possible! What, was I not _good enough_ for him? It wasn't like I expected him to be falling all over me, but he was being a complete ass. The very thought of it made my cheeks blush with anger.

The whole Biology class, Edward and I ignored each other. As soon as the bell rang, Edward was out the door without a word. I huffed and gathered up my things. I could still feel the glares of different girls, but I didn't care. If they were jealous because I was sitting next to _Edward_, they needed a shrink.

"Whoa, girl, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil, or what?" Dacia asked, sidling up next to me as I walked down the hall. I scowled ahead.

"It crossed my mind a few times." I growled.

Dacia put a hand on my arm and stopped in the middle of the hallway to stand in front of me.

"Dacia, move, people are glaring at us."

"Yeah, well, screw them. Girl, I did not do anything to you, so why are you being vicious? I was just asking what was up with Edward."

I sighed, deflating a bit. I ran a hand over my forehead and closed my eyes. "I'm sorry, Dacia, I'm not angry at you, I'm just annoyed."

"Because of _Edward_?"

"You sound so surprised." I mocked. We started walking again. "Listen, Dacia, I gotta get to class. I'll see you later."

Without another word, I turned a corner and walked to art class. I entered the room and sat in an empty chair. This day was starting to suck majorly. Besides German, and History, I hated my other classes. Well, not so much, but the people in them. I had been looking forward to Lit class, but then Edward, Heidi, and Tanya showed up. And then in Trig, Heidi and Tanya showed up again! Lunch was self-explanatory. Biology was my ultimate nightmare because Edward was my _lab partner_. I hated people like him. The ones who got whatever or whomever they wanted with just the snap of a finger.

I pushed Edward out of my head and pulled out my sketch pad. I waited patiently until the teacher came. People filled in around me, taking different seats and chatting with friends. I was relieved to see that most of the people there weren't like the people I had in my other classes. These people were artsy looking, defying the 'normal fashion code' that seemed to go on at HFA. One girl had on a long gauzy skirt and at least five bangles on each wrist. Her hair was blond with wild, crazy curls. She sat down towards the back.

"Hello, everyone!" A lady said, walking into the room. She had dark skin and black curly hair like Dacia. She wore jeans and a green t-shirt that said 'Ireland' across it with the Irish flag. Her shoes, strange enough, were deathly high and blood red with tiny golden studs covering them. I shrugged mentally, blowing it off as some weird artist thing. She dropped her things on the desk and pushed her thick hair over her shoulder. "My name is Dakota L-" She was interrupted by the door opening. I turned and saw Masen walk in with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Hey, Masen, come on." Dakota said, waving him inside. "Don't worry; it's the first official day of school. I won't rat on you." She winked at him. Masen smiled back and looked for a seat. His eyes landed on me. Masen gave me a dazzling smile before taking the empty seat next to me. I whispered a 'hi' to him.

"Anyways, just call me Dakota." She said, "I don't like it when people call me 'Miss'. Makes me feel old. Okay, since this is an advanced art class, we're just going to jump right in and not do those silly exercises my teacher made us do when I was in high school." She rolled her eyes, pulling out a pencil from her bag. She used it to twist up her hair. "Choose a partner. You're going to be doing a portrait of them. To make it fun, we're going to be doing this in ink and stippling."

I glanced over at Masen at the exact time he looked at me. I arched an eyebrow in question. He smiled slightly and gave a little nod. I grinned back, happy that at least one class wasn't going to suck.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Girl, we need to talk." I stepped into my dorm room and was met by Dacia. She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips in a defiant manner. I walked around her and dropped my stuff on my bed. Maleisha meowed 'hello'.

"What's wrong?" I asked, turning to face her.

"Bella, I think you may have the wrong impression of Edward Cullen." Dacia informed me, closing the door.

I instantly bristled. "Um, no, I think I know exactly what kind of person he is. He proved that today in Biology."

"No, I think you're mistaken. It seems to me that you think Edward is some kind of player."

I arched an eyebrow at her. "Uh, yeah, because that's exactly what he is."

"Wrong!" Dacia smacked her hands together. "Edward is the farthest thing _from_ a player! Bella, did you know that he's never even gone out with a girl before?"

I snorted. "Yeah, and I've never been pierced before."

"Bella, I'm serious. Edward has never dated anyone before! Now, that's not common knowledge, so don't go around telling people. Masen told me to keep it hush-hush. Anyways, Ed-"

"Wait," I held up a hand. "Masen? How would he know if Edward hasn't been on a date with anyone?"

Now it was Dacia's turn to stare at _me_ like I was crazy. "Um, honey, Masen and Edward are twin brothers. Did you not know that?"

My heart pounded out an un-even beat. "Tw-twin bro-brothers?" I stuttered.

"Yeah; I can't believe I didn't tell you that. Wow, I'm a bad friend." She paused for a second before continuing. "Bells, I don't know Edward very well, but I can promise you that he is one of the most amazing guys that go to HFA. He doesn't fool around with girls, he's never mean to freshman meat, and he tries to befriend anyone that seems lonely. Edward always helps in the annual charity car wash not because of the ladies, but because the school donates half the money to the Deafness Research Foundation. He even visits his grandmother every other weekend! Where did you hear that he was a player?"

I backed up until the back of my calves hit my bed. I sat down, feeling like an idiot. "I-I… no one told me. I just assumed that he was. The other day in gym, I saw some blond girl hanging all over him. I just thought th-that he was a player. And last night two girls were coming up to talk with him. In Lit class Tanya and Heidi seemed to be best friends with him. And I-I… I don't know!" I fell back on my bed, throwing my arms over my face. "And then there was that Lauren girl! She _told_ me to stay away from him because he was a jerk! I fell like an idiot."

"Wait – last night? Do I need to know about something?"

I waved it off, muttering that it was nothing.

Dacia sighed and came over to sit on my bed next to me. She started playing with my hair as she talked. "Bella, it's okay. I can see why you thou- wait a second." Dacia froze. "Did-did you just say _Lauren_? Lauren _Mallory_ told you to stay away from Edward?"

I moved an arm so I could look at her with one eye. "Yeah…" I said slowly. "Why?"

Dacia stared at me for a moment before throwing her head back and laughing loudly. It wasn't a happy laugh; more of a bitter laugh. "I'm going to wring her fat neck!" Dacia said with a snarl.

"What's wrong with her?"

Dacia looked at me, chuckling now. "Lauren Mallory," She sneered, "is a cronie that pretty much works for Heidi and Tanya. She goes around and does all their dirty work, hoping that one day they will accept her into their circle of popularity." Dacia rolled her eyes. "She'll do anything for them. Last year, some girl – I think her name was Natalie – was helping Lance Holden, the tennis captain, with Geometry, and Heidi had the nerve to think that Natalie was moving in on him! Heidi wasn't even _interested_ in Lance! On top of that, Natalie already had a boyfriend! Anyways, Heidi sent Lauren to do the dirty work one night. The next morning, Natalie woke up with a nasty rumor spreading around about her. I don't need to say what it was about, but it was nasty. She had to transfer over to Redwood Academy."

"Whoa," I breathed. "That's… terrible."

"Yeah, it really is. Lauren is a complete back stabbing dirty little bi-" Dacia stopped mid-cuss. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I bet it's pretty obvious that she's tried to get at me, too."

My eyes widened. "What did she do?"

Dacia heaved a sigh. "It was freshman year and there were a lot of rumors going on about me and some guy that went here. It doesn't matter, though. The point is that you shouldn't ever listen to Lauren Mallory. She's a liar. The only reason she said those things about Edward was to keep you away. Why? I have no idea. Were you two talking in Lit or something?"

I stared at the wall. "Or something…"

"Whatever. Heidi and Tanya are for some reason worried that you're about to move in on him. I guess because you're such good friends with Jacob Black, and about to be so with Emmett McCarty, their misguided witch cauldron is starting to foresee you becoming the queen bee."

I snorted. "Um, yeah right. I would never want to be associated with the title 'queen bee'. That's like a slam to me."

Dacia laughed and rolled off the bed. "I'm not surprised. I'm just glad that you're opinion of Edward is clearing up!"

I sat up. "Dacia, it might have changed a little bit, but I still don't like him. You saw the way he treated me in Biology! He hates my guts."

Dacia dropped a stack of books on her desk. "Yeah, I'm not really sure why he did that. I've never seen him treat anyone that way before. Well, no girls anyways."

"You know what?" I stood up and held up my hands. "It doesn't matter. I don't care what he thinks about me. I have no desire to befriend him or anything."

Dacia eyeballed me before saying, "If you say so…"

We were silent, going about our business. I unpacked my school bag and flipped open my sketch pad. Masen and I hadn't started stippling each other yet. Instead, Dakota had us do little exercises before we worked on our partners. I had done half of an elephant before class was over.

"Did you enjoy art class?" Dacia asked over her shoulder. "Today was your first day, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, focusing on my elephant. "My teacher seems really great."

"I'm sure! HFA has a high requirement for teachers. Because of all the brainiacs that have won scholarships here, the school as to have the best teachers around." She walked over to the window and lifted the glass. A warm breeze drifted inside. "Who's your teacher?"

"Um, her name is Dakota," I said, distracted. I gently made dark dots on the shadow of the elephant's ear. "I don't know what her last name is, though. I think it starts with -"

"An 'L'?" Dacia turned and looked at me. "It's Lindall. Dakota is my oldest sister."

That got my attention. "Dakota's your sister? I didn't know that. How many siblings do you have?"

Dacia shrugged her shoulders. "I have a big family. You see, my dad, Ruben, is from Jamaica. He lived there for a while with his wife until she died in child labor. Dad moved up to the States with Dameirá, the baby, because of his job. When Dameirá was like two, Dad met a lady named Neidra and they got married a few months after that. After that, they had Dakota, Karmeka, me, and then Jayden!" She smiled.

"That sounds like a great family! So where are your siblings now?"

"Well, Dakota teaches here – you knew that, duh – and Karmeka is a senior. You'll meet her some time. Jayden is just three. He was kind of a surprise. As for Dameirá," She grinned, "Wow, that boy is my favorite brother ever. He's in college right now, majoring in medicine to become a doctor. Even though someone who's going to be a doctor should be really serious, Dameirá's exactly the opposite. He has his nose pierced and has at least two tattoos. He has dreadlocks and is always wearing flip flops. Dameirá's the most easygoing guy I know. I think you'd really like him."

I smiled, picturing him in my head. "He sounds pretty awesome."

"Yeah, he is. What about you? Do you have any siblings?"

My heart sank slightly. "Um, no, my parents split before they could have another kid. I'm an only child."

Dacia looked sympathetically at me. "I'm sorry, Bella. I knew they were divorced, but I wasn't sure if-"

"No, no," I waved her off. "It's perfectly fine. You had no clue." I quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on my parents anymore. "So, I saw you sitting with Drew in Biology."

Dacia's face instantly lit up. "Yeah," She blushed slightly and had a goofy grin on her face. "He asked if he could walk me to my next class. We had no idea we both had Biology 2 together! So when we got there, Drew asked if he could be my lab partner." Dacia spent the next five minutes dishing out everything they talked about. I 'ooh'd and 'ah'd at all the right places. "Thanks so much for inviting the guys to sit with us today, Bells. If you hadn't, I don't think Drew-"

I held up my hand. "Wait, I didn't invite them. I thought they were sitting there because you, Rosalie, and Alice were there. Why would they sit at our table because of _me_?"

Dacia arched an eyebrow at me. "Um, never mind. Let's go find Alice and Rose. I'm sure they have something planned for this afternoon."

I took a deep breath, bracing myself for class. No matter how much I hated it, I had to apologize to Edward Cullen. The girls had guilted me into it last night while we were having dinner. In all truth, he really did deserve an apology. I had treated him unfairly.

I stepped into Lit class and looked around. Almost everyone was there except for a few people. That included Edward. _Great_, I thought sourly to myself. _I'll have to wait even longer to get this off my chest. _I plopped down in my chair and pulled out my notebook and _Wuthering Heights_. I propped my arm up and rested my chin in my hand, waiting for Edward. The minutes ticked by, but he didn't show up. I thought he might slip through the door during class, but he never did. I practically groaned once class was over. I would have to carry the guilt around with me until our next class together!

Heaving a sigh, I gathered my things, said goodbye to Brontё, and went to German. The whole morning seemed to just drag on and on as I waited for Biology to roll around. It didn't help that Masen wasn't in German. At least then I would have had someone to keep my mind off the negative. Emmett and Jake cheered me up somewhat in Trig, but I was still on edge. When it was time for History, I practically ran through the door with eagerness. My eyes desperately searched for Masen's brown-red head. When I realized he wasn't there, I consoled myself with the reminder that we still had five minutes before class started. My heart sank when Mr. Reagan walked in and closed the door behind him. Masen wasn't coming to class. Edward wasn't in school either. As Mr. Reagan started his lecture, I came up with three possible solutions as to why the Cullen brothers weren't in school. One: Aliens had abducted them in their sleep and were planning on using them for research. Two: Obsessed teenage girls had ambushed Edward, and Masen had tried to save him but the girls had just taken him along to their cave where they had a Cullen shrine that was bigger than my house. Or three: they were sick. I highly doubted the last one. I had seen both boys the previous day and they seemed perfectly fine to me. I mentally scratched off the last option along with the first. I didn't even believe in aliens. My best guess would have to be the second option. They had been kidnapped by infatuated girls. As Mr. Reagan talked, I started coming up with a rescue plan. I only cared about getting Masen back, but I think he wouldn't be too happy if I left his brother in the clutches of insanity. After class was over, I looked down at the sketch I had drawn out for the rescue mission. I laughed at the buffoonery of it all before chucking the paper into the garbage on my way out the door.

"Hey, what's up?" Dacia plopped down next to me at our table. I was playing with my apple, not really paying attention to it.

"Hello, ladies!" Alice's voice tinkled as she and Rosalie sat down across from us. "Did you hear about Collin Hudson?" She gushed, unscrewing the cap of her water bottle. "He was caught making out with Miss Peterson!"

"Ewww!" Dacia cried, covering her face.

"I know!"

"Why would he even look _twice_ at that old hag?" Rosalie laughed. "I mean, he's seventeen and she's, like, seventy-two!"

"Seventy-seven, actually." Alice informed her. Rosalie and Dacia moaned in disgust. "They were found in a supply closet."

"Do you think he'll get expelled?" I asked, thoroughly grossed out.

Alice shook her head. "No, I have a feeling his daddy will put in a generous donation to the school while Miss Peterson will give the excuse that Collin came on to her and she was overpowered. She'll go on teaching and Collin will still be a student. I bet you fifty bucks they still keep their 'love' a secret and hide in broom closets, making out."

"Alice, that is positively disgusting." Dacia stated, throwing her fork down on her tray. "And I would never bet against you because you're most likely right."

"What is she right about?" Jasper asked as he pulled out the chair next to Alice. Her small face lit up in delight. A herd of jocks pulled out chairs and sat down. The day before, only Emmett, Jake, Drew, Jasper, Edward, Masen, and a few other jocks sat with us. Now, it seemed as if half of the sports teams were sitting at our table. Emmett sat down next to Rosalie, and Drew next to Dacia. I watched as my new friends' attention was captivated by the guys. I heaved a sigh. If this was going to become some kind of male gathering place for the rest of the school year, I was going to move to a different table. Because where the jocks went, the pampered cheerleaders would follow. When that day came, I would be sitting on the other side of the room.

"Hey, Bells." I turned and smiled at Jake as he sat next to me. He dropped his backpack to the ground and turned to face me. "So, how's it going since I saw you last?"

I smiled slightly, playing with my water bottle cap. "Nothing terribly new has happened since ten minutes ago. Thanks for asking though."

"Anytime." He said before taking a bite of his food.

"Hey, do you know where Masen is?" I asked casually, biting into my apple.

"I think something happened with one of their family members." Dacia answered, overhearing my question. "I saw Edward and Masen leaving right before school started."

Emmett broke off his conversation with Rosalie. "It's their grandmother. She had a heart attack last night. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen would have liked to wait until after school to tell the guys, but Nana Cullen is in serious danger."

It seemed as if only our small group of friends had heard what Emmett just said. Besides Jasper, Jake, Drew, Rosalie, Alice, Dacia, and I, the rest of our table kept chatting with each other, completely oblivious that the Cullens' grandmother was most likely going to die. My heart sank with compassion for Masen and even Edward. All of my grandparents had died before I was born, so I couldn't even imagine what it must be like to witness one of them dying.

"Is there anything we can do?" Alice asked, her eyes worried.

Emmett shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. If Nana Cullen does pull through this, it'll be a miracle. She's had heart problems before, so this is going to be a rough journey – for all of them."

* * *

**A/N: I'll try to update soon, but no promises. (:**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Neither Edward nor Masen had come back to school. I had slipped into a routine of walking into Lit class each morning, immediately looking at the desk next to mine. Each time it was empty. I would have gladly just ignored him for the rest of the school year, but Dacia was holding me to the apology. I made a resolution that as soon as I saw Edward, I would apologize for the way I treated him. Sure, I'd only talked with him a few times, but on each meeting I was cold and rude. Although, the last time we spoke he made it very clear that he didn't like me either. I decided that just because I apologized didn't mean we had to be friends. That comforted me slightly.

I had wanted to text Masen and ask him how he was doing, but I didn't think our friendship was that close for me to take that liberty. I would just have to wait for him to come back. I had been taking perfect notes in the classes we had together so I could catch him up to speed when he returned. Begrudgingly, I did the same for Edward in Lit and Biology. I didn't want a slacking lab partner who depended on me to do the labs.

The week dragged on slowly, each day worse than the previous. After Emmett had shared the news about Nana Cullen, I had only spent a few more minutes at the table before heading to my next class. In Biology, Mr. Banner had decided to give a pop quiz on how much we knew. This would have been perfectly fine had not half the quiz been on things I hadn't even studied yet.

Mr. Clapp had been rather cruel in gym that day, also. We had to play volleyball. At the one moment I wasn't paying attention (paying attention to staying away from the ball, that is) the ball started coming straight at me. One guy on my team jumped towards me, yelling that he had it, but ended up hitting me right in the boob. Oh yeah, and did I mention that I hadn't realized I'd started my period? It really sucks to take off your gym shorts and find a massive red spot that takes up half your butt…. Yeah.

Charlie had sent me an e-mail on Wednesday saying that I had 'humiliated him in front of the Montgomerys last Sunday', and that he was 'very disappointed in me'. I stopped reading the nagging letter when I got to the third paragraph where he proceeded to tell me I needed an attitude adjustment. With a biting laugh, I deleted the e-mail and fumed silently for the rest of the evening. I had never seen Dacia so thrilled to leave for orchestra practice.

On Thursday Mr. Varner had called me up to the front of the class to solve a complex Trig problem. I had failed terribly. Just as Mr. Varner was about to solve it himself, Heidi threw her hand up and said she could do it. To my horror, she got it right. I proceeded to hide behind a veil of hair.

Jake, having witnessed my humiliation in Trig, invited me to do something that afternoon. "You need some sugar therapy." He stated, looking me dead in the eyes as I walked back to my dorm.

I stopped on the sidewalk, earning the groans of a few other people behind us. I ignored them as I looked up into Jake's face. I was tired and cramping, completely ready to take a nap. "What?" I asked with a sigh.

"You. Me. Frozen Delights." His face was serious.

I tried not to laugh. "Um, excuse me, but did you just say 'Frozen Delights'?"

With a solemn look in his eyes, he replied, "Do not diss the name. Frozen Delights is the best yogurt shop around. Come on, let's go!" He grabbed my hand and broke out in a mad dash towards Marco's. I could barely keep up with his long strides.

"Jake, stop! My legs aren't as long as yours." I yelled at him, practically dragging the ground as he pulled me along.

Without warning, Jake swung me into his arms and over his shoulder. "No time to waist, Bells! Must get to Frozen Delights!"

My protests soon turned into laughter as Jacob jogged across the courtyard. All the students had just gotten out of school and were milling about. They stared at us strangely. I could just imagine how Jacob and I looked. A massive, intimidating giant running with a midget swung over his shoulder, all the while yelling, "Frozen Delights!" I was in fits of laughter as Jacob walked through the door. Most people looked at us, but others just went about their business. Jake set me down in a chair by the window. He took the chair opposite of me and took up a menu.

"Wow, Jake, way to make an entrance." I laughed, hanging my book satchel on the chair.

He shrugged his shoulders, giving me a smile. "I thought you might need some cheering up."

And I really did. For the next hour Jake kept me laughing with his humor. He was such a light hearted person that I couldn't stay depressed. By the time he walked me back to my dorm room, I was my old self again. Jake always had that affect on me. It was as if he knew the exact words to make my day. I smiled up at him as I thanked him for the yogurt.

"No problem, Bells. I'm always up for some Frozen Delights." He winked before glancing down at his watch. "Crap, I gotta go. I'm meeting the guys at my dorm. See ya later, Bells." He waved before jogging down the hallway. Smiling, I rolled my eyes and walked into my room. Dacia was there with Melanie. I remembered her telling me that they had to study for a French quiz. I waved at them before silently dropping my stuff on my bed. I pulled out my German textbook and started working on my homework. Heaving a sigh, I wished for the weekend.

As I walked to class the next day, I knew it would be uneventful. I would look at Edward's desk, confirm that he wasn't there, and then plop down in my desk. I had been doing it for most of the week. I wasn't good with carrying around guilt. When I was younger I could never lie to my mom for more than an hour. The culpability ate me alive until I spilled the truth out. If I couldn't even lie to my mother, how could I not apologize to a guy whose grandmother was on death's door? With a heavy, despondent heart I trudged into Lit class. My eyes immediately went to Edward's desk, expecting no one there. As to be expected my heart nearly leaped out of my chest when I saw Edward's head bent slightly over his desk, reading a book. I stood in the doorway, staring at him for a moment before a guy behind me nudged my back. I blushed slightly when I realized I was blocking the entrance. With burning cheeks I walked quickly to my desk, locking my eyes onto Edward, praying that he would glance up and catch my gaze. Even when I slowed my pace as I passed his desk, he kept his eyes transfixed on his book. With a slight huff, I slid into my desk and pulled out my things, still keeping my eyes on him. I was about to clear my throat and say his name, but Brontё walked in at that moment, slamming her books down on her desk. I was distracted for almost the whole class. My heart would accelerate randomly when I thought of what I was going to say to Edward. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, gnawing on my lip with different approaches swimming through my head when I heard Brontё say my name. My head instantly snapped up to stare at her. She was watching me expectantly.

"Um, yes?" I said, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

A few people chuckled. I shrank slightly shame. I was the good student, always paying attention in class. Why did Brontё have to call on me when I was contemplating strategies to apologize? Could she not see that I was kinda busy?

"I asked if you could express your thoughts on Edgar Linton. He's just come into the story." She said, repeating the question without annoyance.

Still slightly distracted, I unthinkingly replied, "Oh, he reminds me of Brian Johnson from AC-DC."

A ripple of laughter went through the room as everyone focused their attention on me. Edward actually twisted around in his chair to look at me. My blush deepened. Contrary to what I'd been hoping for earlier, I couldn't even meet eyes with him. I fiddled with my pen as I kept my eyes cast downwards. Brontё gave a short, slightly confused laugh before saying, "Interesting opinion. Could you laminate on that?"

My eyes flashed briefly from Edward to Brontё. "Um, they both annoy me. Sure they both have a great sound – AC-DC in their music, Linton in his title – but every time they open their mouths they annoy me to tears. Edgar is a complete pansy who can't even _look_ at Heathcliff without trembling in his shoes. Everything he says makes me want to slap him. With Brian Johnson, I absolutely cannot stand his voice. He sounds like a man going through midlife crisis."

A few "What?"'s and "You're insane!"'s went through the room, but Brontё just laughed and said, "Quite creative, Bella. Interesting how you snagged two opposite people and showed their likeness to each other. Anton," She turned to the Russian exchange student who sat in the second row, "Care to share your opinion on Edgar?"

The attention soon left me and moved to Anton. I could still feel Edward's gaze on me, though. I fidgeted nervously, keeping my eyes on my pen. I glanced up after a moment and met his stare. He held my gaze fleetingly before turning in his chair to look at Anton who was saying something along the lines of 'Heathcliff could only dream about having such a suave demeanor '. At any other time I would have rolled my eyes at such buffoonery, but instead I stared out the window, stealing my nerves for the duty I had to do after class…

"Edward! Wait up!" I called after him as he walked speedily down the hallway. He had rushed out of Lit class before I could catch up with him. I had to practically throw my stuff into my bag and run down the hallway after him. I saw his bronze head come to a slow stop and turn around to look at me. I pushed past a couple that was standing in the middle of the hallway staring at each other, and hurried over to Edward. I stopped in front of him and nervously started playing with the strap of my bag.

"Um, hey…" I said uncertainly. "Uh, how's your grandmother?"

Irritation flickered across his face. "Look, Swan, I really hope you didn't just stop me in the middle of the hallway just to make small talk about my grandmother."

I recoiled at his tone. I turned my gaze from his face to my shoes. I took a deep breath before jumping in. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize for how I treated you earlier on this week. I… I shouldn't have been so… callous." Wow, this was harder than I thought. "I just got the wrong impre-"

"Whatever, Swan." Edward said heatedly. My eyes went immediately to his. He stared at me angrily. "I'm not interested in your fake apologies. Now go run back to your leaders and leave me alone. Don't think I'm not aware of your clique's little schemes. I'm not interested." With that Edward turned on his heel, leaving me standing in the middle of the hallway, staring after him in shock. Leaders? Clique? Fake apologies? What the world was he _talking_ about? Instead of the expected hurt that should have come over me, I felt angry. More than angry. I was _furious._ I had just tried to _apologize_ to _Edward Cullen_ and he _walked away from me!_ The audacity of it all! I don't know where Dacia got the idea that this guy was 'kind' and 'down to earth' because he was neither one! He was rude, impertinent, and totally full of himself!

In a huff, I stormed down the hallway to German. To make matters worse, Masen wasn't there. _Great,_ I thought to myself, plopping down in my desk and slouching in the seat. _The evil brother decides to come to school while the normal one plays hooky… Just my luck._ For the rest of the morning I stayed in a bad mood. Jake and Emmett wisely kept their distance from me as soon as I walked into Trig. I grumbled all the way to my desk, not watching where I was going. Accidently, I slammed into someone from behind.

"What the crap?" A voice yelled furiously. To my horror, it was Tanya. She was standing next to some guy's desk, glaring at me with a livid expression on her face. Her hands were balled at her waist. "What the hell is your problem?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Emmett and Jake looking horror struck at the scene. Jacob had his hand poised against his chair, ready to jump up and save me if Tanya decided to rip my face to shreds with her killer claws. Trying to restrain my anger, I calmly said, "Sorry, Tanya, I didn't see you standing there."

And it could have ended like that. She could have given me a disgusted look before turning back to her little boy-toy. I could have just continued on to my desk and fumed in silence. But it didn't work that way.

"You didn't _see_ me?" She sounded as if that were totally impossible. "How could you not see me? I'm standing right here! Are you blind or something?"

My fingernails dug into my palm as I tightened my fist. Man, I really wished I could have slugged her right then. But the idea of getting suspended only a few days into the school year kept me at bay. Instead, I decided to say, "Sorry, Tanya, I've just gotten into the habit of not looking at you. My mom told me never to make eye contact with a dog."

The guy Tanya had been talking to started to laugh, but was silenced with Tanya's death glare.

"Go to hell, Swan." She sneered.

I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, I'm already there."

A few 'ooh's' want around the room. I rolled my eyes at how the mere insult could make a bunch of rich kids think Tanya and I were about to get into a cat fight. It was as if they were just waiting in painful anticipation for one girl to start ripping the other's hair out. I felt ashamed to be called a teenager, not to mention a 'rich kid'.

Tanya's eyes blazed with anger. She glanced around the room quickly, as if looking for someone. Probably Heidi. I laughed inwardly at the way she was hoping her sister would come to her rescue. Dacia had been right: Tanya and Heidi were both beautiful, but Heidi had the brains and the bite, while Tanya only had the boobs and body (two things that Heidi already possessed).

"Swan, you are such a freak. If you wanna fight, it's so on!"

I rolled my eyes at her lame threat. "Puh-lease, Tanya. I'm not going to get into a battle of wits with you; I never attack anyone who's unarmed."

To my surprise, Tanya gave a snarl and threw her hands out to grab me. Luckily, Jake was right there to pull me away. Tanya ended up just slamming into his rock hard body. She flailed her arms manically around Jacob, trying to reach me. Thankfully I was tucked into Jacob's arms, out of harm's way.

Emmett started to reach for Tanya, but a voice stopped him. "Tanya, _what_ are you doing?" The whole classroom looked to the door. There stood Heidi with blood red lipstick and killer heels. A tall, handsome guy with olive skin and jet black hair stood next to her, his hand resting lowly around her waist. He whispered something in Heidi's ear before kissing her and walking down the hall.

"Sorry I'm late, class." Mr. Varner said, walking in. He took in the way Jacob had his arms wrapped around me. Tanya, the witch, had quickly sat down in her desk as if nothing had happened between us. Heidi had somehow already gotten to her desk beside Tanya. She stared at me as if Tanya had already told her what had transpired between us.

"Miss Swan and Mr. Black, please no PDA in the classroom." Mr. Varner said before turning to his desk. A ripple of laughter went through the room. My cheeks burned with embarrassment. Jake quickly let me go and we both slipped into our desks silently. This had to be the worst day of my entire junior year.

I curled my legs underneath myself as I read _Wuthering Heights_. My satchel lay next to me, a water bottle beside it. My iTouch was playing soft classical music (a composer that Dacia had said I 'had to listen to because I couldn't survive without hearing his music'). I made a mental note to tell her that she was right. Rachmaninoff was pretty amazing.

It was around three o'clock. After my little spat with Tanya, I had ditched the rest of my classes and gone to the Book Nook, where I proceeded to read my book, hidden towards the back of the store. The shop was practically empty except for the older woman I had met on my first visit (I found that her name was Nancy). She smiled at me before going back to organizing the books.

I was so fed up with Edward and Tanya and Heidi and everything that I felt like running away, back to Napa Valley. I resented Charlie for making me come here, trying to shape me into the perfect 'rich girl' daughter he never had. I hated being around all the snobby people that went to school here. I could practically feel their slimy fingers reaching into my personality, trying to change me into one of them. Thank goodness I was immune to them. I wished I could just go to a normal school in Napa Valley. I hated it here.

I slammed my book closed and dropped it in my lap. I ran my hands over my face, groaning.

That wasn't true. I didn't hate it here. I had such an amazing roommate who had introduced me to some great girls. I had met Emmett and Masen. I had teachers that challenged me intellectually in a way that none of my previous teachers had. And I had Jacob. There were at least a dozen more things that I should have been thankful for.

I wasn't really sure why I'd been so down in the dumps lately. Sure Heidi and Tanya and Edward had a lot to do with it, but I could usually handle things like that. Maybe it was because I was on my period…

The bell tingled over the door, signaling someone coming in. I would have just ignored it, but Nancy started talking loudly and happily to the new customer that I couldn't help but stand up and peak around the corner. To my shock (and disgust) I saw Edward Cullen, smiling and talking to Nancy. Why the heck was _he_ here? Anger boiled up inside of me. I went back to my chair, grabbed my stuff, and made a bee line for the door. I didn't have any desire to stick around and see Edward. I reached for the door handle, but was stopped by Nancy's voice.

"Goodbye, Bella, dear!" She called, still holding on to one of Edward's hands. "I'll see you later!" I turned around painfully and gave her a weak smile, careful not to even _glance_ at Edward, before darting out the door. Marco's was crowded and I had to fight my way through it. If I could survive New York City crowds, I could certainly get through this. Finally, I popped out of the mass of people and walked down the pathway that led to the dorms. The sun beat down over head and the air smelled of grass and people. I was passing Wellington when I heard someone call my name. I looked around, but didn't see anyone.

"Bells, up here!" I looked up at and saw Jacob hanging out of a fifth floor window, waving at me.

"What are you doing, Jake?" I yelled up at him, moving to the side of the walkway.

"I need your help! Can you come up?"

"Uh, I guess so…"

"Great! I'll meet you in the lobby." He disappeared inside the room.

With a sigh, I turned around and retraced my steps. I wasn't in the best mood and didn't really feel like talking, but I was pretty confidante (and hopeful) that Jake could lighten my spirits. I walked to the entrance of Wellington and went inside. I was blasted by cold air. Looking around, I saw that the lobby of Wellington was exactly the same as Porthaven. The only difference was that there was a butt load of hot guys in here. I suddenly felt very awkward standing there. I was quite out of place around these jocks and popular people. From the corner of the room, I heard a girl laughing loudly.

"Bells!" Jake's voice caught my attention. He was walking towards me, smiling widely. A smile of my own broke out across my face. I closed the distance between us.

"Hey," I said, smiling up at him. "What did you need me for? Besides the fact that you can't live without me, of course."

He arched an eyebrow at me, "Oh, _I_ can't live without _you_? I think you have that backwards, short stuff. You would never be able to survive without me and you know it."

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and shrugged. "You caught me. It's true. I would have no meaning in life if I didn't have you."

Jake laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side as we walked towards the elevators. "Nice rhyme. I never knew you were a poet."

I laughed. "It just comes to me."

Jake led me to the elevators and up to his room. I wasn't surprise as to what I saw there. Clothes were strewn about the room. Soda cans sat on his desk. Posters of surfers, motorcycles, fancy cars, and lacrosse were plastered onto the walls. His bed looked as if it hadn't been made in a while. Music was blasting from somewhere in the room, a rock song that I'd never heard before.

"Wow, Jake, I love what you've done with the place." I said, finishing my survey. "Only one question: where does your roommate sleep?"

Jacob was over by his dresser, fiddling with his iTouch. The song changed to Coldplay, for which I was glad. "Oh, I have a room to myself. All the senior captains get a room to themselves. It's even better that it's on the corner."

"That's pretty awesome. Who was your roommate last year?"

"Emmett McCarty." He smiled as if remembering something funny. "I shared a room with him freshman and junior year."

I patted his arm with fake sympathy. "You must be missing your little buddy. I know you always needed someone to read a bedtime story to you and make sure you were tucked into bed every night."

Jake cut me a look. "Yeah, I ache on the inside. Thank goodness he's just right next door." As if on cue, Emmett started banging on the wall from the room next door.

"Jacob, turn down the music!" He yelled. "I'm trying to talk on the phone!"

Jake gave me a sly look and mouthed "Rosalie" as he turned down the music. I laughed.

"It must be nice to have a room to yourself. I'm pretty happy with Dacia, though."

"Yeah, you have it made!" Jake shoved a stack of clothes on the floor aside and picked up a wrench. "Sophomore year, Emmett and me got split up. I ended up staying with Edward Cullen while Emmett stayed with Felipe San Palo. You can defiantly see who got the better end of the bargain."

I felt like mockingly saying, "No, I'm not really sure either of those guys is any better than each other." I restrained myself, though.

"It's even worse that Felipe had just started dating Rosalie. Don't tell Em that I told you this, but he's been sweet on her ever since freshman year. When Rosalie started dating Felipe, Emmett decided – well, let's just say that's when Tiff came into the picture." Jake squatted down on the floor, digging through a pile of… stuff. I fought the urge to laugh at the way Jake talked about who was dating who. I guess guys actually _do_ think about stuff like that. I dropped my bag to the floor and walked over to this bed, pushing clothes aside before sitting down.

"Anyways, long story short: Emmett and Felipe hated each other's guts. Edward and I got along pretty well, though. He's a cool guy." Jacob got up from the floor, giving up his search. He pulled out his desk chair and sat down. "Speaking of Felipe, what's up with you and the Denali twins? I thought I warned you to stay away from them." He winked.

Even though he was trying to make light of the subject, I instantly felt annoyed and worn-down. "I don't know. They hate my guts for some reason. It might be because I'm friends with you and Emmett."

Jake leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. She's usually just that possessive when some girl talks to Edward."

"Please, don't even get me started on _him_." I groaned.

He scrunched his eyebrows. "Bells, what's up with you and Cullen? And why did you skip lunch and the rest of your classes today?"

"How do you know I skipped my afternoon classes? I don't have any with you." I said, trying to change the subject.

"Dacia asked me if I knew why you ditched. And don't try to change the subject. Did Cullen do something to you?"

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. "Not physically if that's what you mean…" I trailed off.

"What did he do to you, Bella?" Jacob demanded, anger starting to build in his voice.

Although the thought of Jacob ripping off Edward's face was extremely tempting, I didn't want Jacob to be suspended. _Time to steer this conversation away from the Edward topic,_ I thought to myself. "Nothing, Jacob. I'm just… annoyed with him right now. That's all. Drop it for now, okay? I've had a pretty sucky week and don't feel like crying in your dorm."

Jacob's face softened slightly. "Fine; have it your way."

"So, what did you need me for?" I inquired, changing the subject.

Jake breathed heavily. "I just wanted to know why you ditched and if something was wrong. That's all. You can go now."

I stood from the bed, annoyed at Jacob's irritation towards me. I wasn't some dog that he could dismiss whenever he wanted. I didn't have to take this. I grabbed my satchel and made my way to the door. I was tired, hungry, and plain exasperated with the male population. I wanted to crawl into my bed and sleep for the rest of the weekend.

I pushed the elevator button, taping my foot impatiently.

"Hey, watch out!" Some guy yelled from down the hall. I would have just ignored it, chalking it up to stupid male behavior, but the object that hit and exploded on the side of my head caught my attention. Two more objects slammed into my back and side.

Dropping my bag, I clutched the side of my face. I was soaking wet and now in intense pain. I peeled something of my cheek and looked at it, shock still painted across my features. In disgust, I threw the shred of the water balloon to the ground. I felt like screaming at the guy who had thrown it, but the small bit of my sane self reminded me that I didn't want to be classified as a total freak for yelling at someone in the middle of the guys' dorm. So instead of the yelling and screaming, tears came in their place.

"Hey, are you okay?" I heard a guy ask from my side.

I didn't even bother looking at him. I just grabbed my satchel, said, "Just go away," in a worn voice, and threw open the door to the stairs. I could hear the guy calling after me, but I just ignored him. As I ran down the stairs, the side of my face still throbbing, completely soaked to the bone, I fought off the tears. I would _not_ cry in public. I would rather run around naked in the Courtyard, singing show tunes at the top of my lungs, waving a spatula in the air.

I pushed the staircase door open, and hurried out the side door of Wellington. Thank goodness I didn't have to go parading through the lobby. As I cut through the Courtyard, I ran a hand through my hair, feeling totally defeated. I felt a buzz in my back pocket, but ignored it. I didn't feel like talking to anyone (especially Jacob) at the moment.

"Hey, where have y- Oh, my stars!" Dacia gasped, looking up from painting her toenails. "What the heck happened to you?" She yelled, bolting up from the floor. She rushed over to me and grabbed the side of my face. "You're cheek! It's turning red! And why are you soaking wet? Bella, what's going on?"

I couldn't hold back the floodgates anymore. Dropping my satchel on the floor, I threw myself on my bed, buried my face into the pillow, and burst into tears. I heard Dacia close the door before she came over to me. The bed dipped with her weight. She started rubbing soothing circles into my back.

"Bella, are you okay, sweetie?" She asked gently.

Unable to speak, I shook my head. I had been keeping everything pent up inside of myself and I just couldn't hold it back anymore.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: I've been super busy with work, school, and my music so I haven't been able to write lately. I'm working on the next chapter of Nanny 911, but it's so sllooww... Hopefully I'll have more time this summer. (:**

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Chapter 8

The smell of sea salt and fish swirled around me. The waves splashed against my legs gently. Gulls cawed noisily from the sand, scavenging for food. The slow fall and crash of the water against the shore was soothing. The sun was hoisting itself over the horizon, illuminating the beach. A few beach bums were surfing down the beach, hooting and hollering at every good wave. Besides them, only the shell hunters were out, scouring the shore for treasures that would be crushed later in the day by families bumbling about.

My hair rose and fell with each wave that met with the shore. My wetsuit was soaking wet, clinging to my body. I rubbed some sand out of my eye and stared up at the blue sky. Digging my toes into the sand, I wished I didn't have to go back to school.

After my melt down the previous night in front of Dacia, I had felt the need to run away. I had shocked even myself by telling her what catastrophes I'd gone through that week, leading up to the Jacob incident. She had cringed at the gym/period event, looked shocked at the Edward rejection, laughed at the fight with Tanya, and pursed her lips at the Jacob… thing. The whole time she let my talk, not asking any questions until the end. And when the end came, she only said one thing:

"Have you ever given Edward the wrong impression?"

I had stared at her in shock, totally amazed that after all that _that_ would be the thing she decided to ask me. What the heck? I had hardly even _talked_ to Edward! Well, that wasn't exactly true. But when I apologized to him, he had given me some crap about my 'clique's schemes'.

I relayed that information to Dacia, but all she did was nod silently before telling me to get some rest. I had therefore spent the night with a white fuzz ball of a cat on my head, restless. I had tossed and turned the whole night, only falling asleep for thirty minutes or so before waking up. It had been quite miserable.

When six o'clock had finally rolled around I was lying on my back, Maleisha curled on top my stomach, staring up at the ceiling. I'd been doing that for the past hour. And I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get out of there. Sitting in a bed, staring at the ceiling at six in the morning with a cat on my stomach was not doing anything for my mental health.

With an annoyed 'meow', I pushed Maleisha off my stomach and popped out of bed. I was about to pace around the room, thinking of somewhere to go, when it hit me. Er, well, more like _I_ hit _it_. Or maybe 'tripped' is a better word. As I was turning around, my foot snagged the edge of my surfboard and I tumbled to the ground. Dacia murmured a little before groggily asking if I was okay. I twisted around and stared at the board for a moment before replying.

"Dacia, can I borrow your car?"

More or less, that was how I got here. With a few attempts to fit my board into Dacia's Audi, a couple of wrong turns, and a close encounter with a squirrel crossing the road, I ended up at Windansea Beach. I had heard someone talking about it in my Art class one day and asked how to get there. The guy had shared a glance with his boho buddy before informing me that it was for 'experts only'. _I_ then went on to inform _him_ that I'd surfed in places like Samoa and Indonesia, and that I'd placed in a not-so-public surfing competition in El Salvador. They then gave me all the details about the beach, where the best spots were, and what times I should go before asking me if I had ever met Kelly Slater or Laird Hamilton. Oh, brother…

Windansea Beach was an awesome coastline. I had always loved the water ever since I was a little girl and coming to this beach made me feel at home. Our vineyard in Napa Valley wasn't too far from the beach and I loved going down there. It was where I learned to surf when I was seven even though most people thought I was crazy. And I probably was. Only an idiot would ride their first waves at a place like Drakes Beach or Point Reyes. But then again, I had Jacob by my side, and an awesome teacher who lived in a shack on the beach and only lived to surf.

The thought of Jacob made me twinge with annoyance.

I pulled myself off the sand and looked out at the waves. When I'd first arrived the waves had been nice, but nothing I hadn't seen before. Now, though, they were just starting to get exciting. Pulling myself off the sand, I grabbed my board and attached the leash to my leg. I started jogging out to the waves, past the impact zone, and swam to the lineup. Hoisting my body up onto the board, I waited for my wave. Over the years, I'd learned which waves would be mush or total trash. Finally I saw it. Paddling quickly, I started to catch it. I stood up and kept my balance as the wave turned into a total wall of glassiness. I proceeded to pull an aerial, launching myself neatly into the air and coming down perfectly. I did a few more moves before the wave crashed onto the shore. My heart pounded in my chest, adrenaline pumping through my body. I positively adored the thrill of the ocean waves. It was practically the only place I was graceful. With a smile breaking out across my face, I jogged back out into the water. Waves pushed at me, but I pressed on. I seriously needed to get rid of some stress.

The next half hour was a blissful blur of waves, my crazily designed surf board, and the endless horizon. I was floating on my board, waiting for a wave when I wished once again that I could skip school and stay at Windansea Beach for the rest of the week. My worries disappeared here. It was a haven where no HFA snobs could bother me.

Oh, how wrong I was…

I started to paddle toward a wave when something caught my eye. Another surfer was catching a wave a little ways down the beach. It was a beautiful wave and he totally owned it. I watched in awe as he pulled a perfect backflip. I always had a difficult time with those and to see him do that really impressed me. As I watched him ride the wave to the shore, I decided that he was good. Maybe even slightly better than me…

I started cheering from where I was on the water, clapping my hands as loud as I could. Though my voice was twisted by the wind and waves, the guy turned to look at me. He held up his hand in acknowledgment and thanks.

I saw a wave coming suddenly and moved fast. I dropped onto my stomach and started paddling as quickly as I could. I caught the wave just in time. Standing up, I glided on the wave and pulled another great aerial. My heart pounded as I flipped upside down. I could hear the guy clapping from the beach as I rode the wave to the shore. I glanced over at him. He had come down to talk to me. I could see him a bit more clearly now, but not much. All I could see was that his wet hair was dark brown with flecks of red. I waved at him as I stopped on the sand. He picked up his board and started jogging over to where I was. Pulling up my own board, I stuck it into the sand and started pushing my hair off my face. It was sticking to my face uncomfortably and I couldn't stand it anymore. Turning my back to the sun (and the guy) I pulled my hair into a sloppy bun.

"Whoa, that was great! I haven't seen an aerial like that in quite a while." A very familiar voice said. I snapped my hair band into place and froze in astonishment. "My name's Edward-"

"Cullen?" I said, venom lacing through my voice as I whipped around to look at him.

The smile on his face vanished, replaced by a look of surprise. His eyes flashed over my face, not lingering too long on the piercings, and met my eyes. "Swan?" He returned.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded. If I had been any other girl, I would have passed out at the sight of Edward Cullen shirtless what with his washboard abs and toned body. Luckily, I wasn't any other girl.

Edward crossed his arms and gave me a look. "First of all, it's a free beach! And second, I could ask you the same thing! I didn't think girls like you would even _consider_ doing something strenuous, let alone surfing! What kind of-"

"You make it sound like I'm not even _aloud_ to be here! Wow, you have some nerve, Cullen!" I put my hands on my hips and scowled at him. "And what do you mean 'girls like me'? Is that some kind of sexist slam?"

"No, it's a f_act_." He spat out. Throwing his hands up in the air, he said, "Gosh, it feels like everywhere I _go_ one of you are following me! Can't I be alone sometimes?"

"What are you _talking_ about?" I demanded. "If you think I _followed_ you here, I've got some news for you! I came here over an hour ago! And why the heck would I follow _you_? You are so conceited!"

Edward was fuming with anger. So was I. We stared at each other in fury. The only sound was the gulls and waves. Water splashed at our feet. I could vaguely hear the beach bums cheering to each other far down the beach. After about five minutes of silence, I couldn't stand it anymore. In a huff, I grabbed my board and started up the sand towards my stuff. That didn't work out so well…

Somehow my foot snagged Edward's board, causing me to land face first in the sand. _Please, just let me die right here_, I thought to myself as I pulled myself up into a sitting position. My hand stung with pain. I looked down to see blood. _Oh great…_ With my good hand I picked up the evil shell that had cut me and threw it out into the water.

Edward sighed next to me. Before I could say anything, he was kneeling down next to me, looking at my palm

"What are you doing?" I demanded, pulling back my hand.

Edward gave me an exasperated look. "I'm trying to _help_ you. What, do people not usually do that where you come from?" His voice was filled with sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes. "It depends. What country would like to hear about? I've lived in over fifteen, visited more than I can count." I spat at him, standing up. He stood along with me.

"I was being sarcastic." He said dryly. "Now give me your hand."

"No!" I said as he started to reach for it.

"Swan, contradicting to what you may believe, I don't enjoy watching someone bleed when it's my fault they were injured."

"Well, it's good to know you're not a sadistic person." I said with heavy mockery.

"Would you just let me see your palm?" He demanded.

"For goodness sake's alive, would you let it go!" I yelled, throwing my hands into the air. "If you want to hold a girl's hand so bad, why don't you go talk to Tanya or Heidi? I'm sure they'd _love_ for you to touch them! But I've got a news flash for ya, buddy: not every girl wants you to touch her, and that includes _me! _You are just_ so conceited_, you know that? You think that every girl falls at your feet, wanting to be with you, but you're wrong! Some of us actually have minds of our own! Now get _away_ from me!"

Edward's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What are you _talking_ about? Why would I even want to touch – you know what? Just forget it. I don't even know why I'm having this conversation with a girl like you."

"What do you mean 'a girl like me'?" I demanded. "Why do you keep saying that! I don't even know what that means!"

"I would say stop playing dumb, but that's kind of impossible for you." Edward laughed without mirth. "You're just like every other girl that follows Tanya and Heidi around – mindless clones. You're so desperate to be popular that you'll do anything to get to the top even if that means doing the dirtiest things imaginable. You'll suck up to anyone, lie through your teeth, flirt with any guy, manipulate your 'best friends', and even follow someone around. _That's_ what kind of girl you are."

I stared at him in shock. He really thought I was like that? That I was one of Heidi and Tanya's drones? How – why – where did he _hear_ that? I was dumbstruck by the very thought of it. If the seriousness of the situation hadn't been so intense, I would have fallen on the ground laughing. Instead I just spluttered out, "Who told you that?"

Edward just rolled his eyes. "Does it matter who I heard it from?"

"_Yes!_" I yelled, my anger shooting through the roof. "I need to know so I can kick their butt! I can't believe someone was spreading lies about me!"

Edward gave me a tentative look. "You… you're not friends with Heidi and Tanya? But I saw you talking to Lauren in the hallway…"

"First of all, I was only talking to Lauren because she was warning me to stay away from you since you're a player, which I would have done anyways. I only hold conversation with the people who interest me or the ones that I'm forced to talk to. You're part of the latter group. And second of all, no, I am not friends with Heidi or Tanya. That was made kind of obvious when I trashed Tanya in Trig yesterday." I gave a humorless laugh at the memory. "Why? Does it upset you that I'm not tight with your girlfriend? Awe, I would have thought you'd be relieved. I mean, if I w_as_ friends with her some of my sarcasm might rub off on her. You wouldn't want that would you? You like your women dumb, blond, and humorless."

By the time I was finished with my little rant, Edward's face had transformed from shock, horror, surprise, humor, back to shock, and then anger. I placed my hands on my hips, waiting for him to fire something at me. I would only shoot it right back in his face.

"Let me get this straight," He said slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Lauren started talking to you in the hallway because she was warning you not to talk to me on account of the fact that I'm a player." I could practically hear the quotation marks around 'player'. "But you didn't like me already because basically I'm one of those guys who uses girls for one night stands, doesn't care about school, lives to party, and is a totally jock. So you decided that I wasn't worth your time. And according to what you've seen, or maybe you heard it, I am dating Tanya Denali. How's that?"

I crossed my arms and arched an eyebrow. "You forgot about the part where you're a total douche bag. But yeah, that's basically it."

I could see Edward fighting not to smile at my last comment as he said, "Well, that's completely wrong."

I gave a short laugh. "Really?" My voice was sarcastic.

"Yeah," He was dead serious. "I'm none of those things. I don't know where you got all that from, but it's not true. I avoid Tanya and Heidi at all costs, I have never used a girl before, I don't think I've ever gotten anything below a B- before, and I am most certainly not a player."

"So you're basically a pretty boy who only shops at American Eagle and Abercrombie, calls his mommy every night, and doesn't even know what the phrase 'douche bag' means."

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose again. "No, I'm none of those things. What, you want me to explain myself in simple words? I can't do that because A: that's weird. It's not like I think about random ways to describe myself. And B: you'd just have to find out for yourself."

I stared at the guy standing before me as if I'd never seen him before. And in some ways, I hadn't. Everything I'd thought I'd known about Edward Cullen had just been proven… wrong. It was an eerie feeling.

Edward was staring at me the same way.

"So…" I drawled, "You're _not_ an egotistical, shallow player who thinks the definition of music is Ke$ha and The Black Eyed Peas?"

Edward fought back the smile at my last comment before shaking his head. "And you're not some social climber who worships the Denali twins and sold her soul to the devil to-"

I held up me hand and interrupted him. "Okay, before you finish that sentence – no. I am the type of girl that laughs at Tanya and Heidi to their faces. I'm not into the whole if-I'm-popular-I'll-succeed thing. I mock the crowd, not follow it."

Edward looked at me with an expression I couldn't determine. "Well, that's… good to know." He rubbed the back of his neck.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "What now?" I asked awkwardly. _Wow, that was such a lame thing to say,_ I thought.

Edward was silent for a moment, eyes focused on the water. He turned to look at me, his intense green eyes on mine. "How about we have breakfast at this place called Old Man Grey's? Actually let's fix your hand up and _then_ go eat. Sorry, but I'm not the type to eat while someone is bleeding in front of me." And then he smiled and winked at me. My heart did a little flip flop before I squelched the feeling in my stomach.

I looked uneasily at Edward, not liking the feelings going on in my stomach. "I don't know…"

Edward took a step towards me. "Come on; you can trust me." And with those few words, I agreed.

Old Man Grey's was… something else. It was a shack type building just a few blocks down from the beach. The small parking lot desperately needed to be paved, consisting of pot holes and cracks. Stepping out of Dacia's Audi, the ground felt as if it had a thin layer of sand over it. There were at least ten cars, each with a surfboard in the back or strapped to the top. On the front of the building, almost hidden by the rampaging bushes, was a painting of some guy with blond hair catching a wave.

Upon entering, I wasn't very surprised to see different surf memorabilia on the walls, wooden tables with different names and pictures etched into them, beach bums drinking beer, and a waitress who looked as if she had as much history as the restaurant. Some Beach Boys song played over the speakers. The place reeked of fish and clams.

And for some reason I cannot explain, I kinda liked the place.

Edward grabbed a few packets of crackers from a huge barrel at the door before leading me to a table by the back windows looking out at the beach. A few people were milling about down there.

The waitress came over to our table and slapped down two menus. Her bleach blond hair was in an up-do, her eye makeup heavy. She smacked her gum as she pulled out a notepad. "Hello, Edward." She said in a none-caring voice. Her eyes skittered over Edward before landing on me. "Nice piercings. What do you two want to drink?"

"Um, thanks…" I said slowly, looking at Edward. He flashed me a smile. "I'll have water, please."

"Tap okay?" She asked in a bored voice as she wrote that down.

"Oh, um, yeah."

"I'll have orange juice." Edward said.

The lady nodded before walking away.

I arched an eyebrow at Edward. He shrugged and said, "Her name's Angie. She's worked here since Grey opened the place." He gave me an approving smile. "That was a real compliment from her about your piercings."

"I feel so lucky." I said dryly.

Angie soon returned with our drinks and took our orders. I sipped on my water in silence. A roar of laughter came from the bar where two men were sitting, having a beer. I kept my eyes down, playing with the band-aid on my hand. Before leaving the beach, Edward had taken me over to Emmett's massive Jeep that Edward had borrowed and fixed up my hand. The cut wasn't too bad; just a little scratch on the surface.

"Why _were_ you talking to Lauren in the hallway that day?" I snapped my head up to look at Edward. I arched an eyebrow in question. "You said something about it earlier." He added on.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked out the window. "Oh, I remember saying that. I just didn't think you would." My eyes came to rest on him. "She just came up and started talking to me, saying that I should stay away from you because you're a womanizer – but I've recently been informed otherwise." I knit my eyebrows together in thought. "But I hardly even _know_ her… Why would she do that?"

It was Edward's turn to shrug his shoulders. "I can come up with a few different reasons, but nothing dead on. The most likely one is this: As you know, Lauren is one of Heidi's minions and does whatever she bids. Ever since freshman year Heidi and Tanya have had this weird…" He searched for the word. "Obsession, I guess you could say. They don't like any female talking to me unless it's them-"

"But that's insane," I interrupted. "You talk to girls all the time!"

Edward quirked a smile. "Let me finish. Usually they let it slide if some girl talks to me. But if one of those girls opposes some kind of threat to their 'hold over me,'" He rolled his eyes, "They will try to destroy her. That goes for any of the sports captains at HFA. They somehow think they're entitled to us or something. You should have seen what they did last year to a girl named Natalie who was trying to help out Lance Holden with Geometry. And he was just the _tennis team_ captain."

I mulled this over in my mind for a moment before asking, "So why would they feel threatened by _me_?"

Edward leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. I was momentarily dazed by his muscles before mentally slapping myself. _Don't even _go_ there, Swan!_

"It might be because you're friends with Emmett and Jacob. I guess when they saw you talking to me, it was the last straw."

I looked at him with astonishment. "I just _met_ Emmett the first day I was here! That doesn't mean anything! And what, I talked to you for like two minutes that day!" I gave an annoyed growl before saying, "I wish I'd punched Tanya in the face while I had the chance. Hell, if Jacob hadn't been there to hold me back, I would've slugged her!" I steamed.

Edward just laughed. "I have no doubt you would have! Also, word of advice: before you start making plans to sabotage the Denali twins, keep in mind that their father is on the board of directors for the school. You can bet your surfboard that if Mr. Denali hears of one cruel act towards his daughters, you'll be kicked out of HFA."

"Is that a promise?" I muttered under my breath.

"Here's your food." Angie appeared next to our table, carrying two plates. Setting them down, she asked if we needed anything else before walking away. I picked up my fork and started to eat my pancakes and strawberries.

"So why don't they just tell their dad some lie about a girl insulting them so she'll get kicked out? I mean, it'd be the perfect way to get rid of the 'competition'." I laughed.

Edward smiled, his eyes sparkling. "Thank goodness their father is somewhat level headed. He has to have proof that the incident has happened."

I tucked that tid bit of information away before taking another bite of food. Edward and I sat in silence, eating. It was actually good food. I mean, for a shack that was _this _rundown, they actually served edible things. Renée would have loved coming here. A lump instantly formed in my throat thinking about the times we'd shared at places similar to this.

"My mom loves places like this." I said suddenly, only looking at my food. "She would always say something along the lines of 'It's a little piece of history tucked away, waiting for me to find it.' She'd always find the craziest places for us to eat at. We could have eaten anywhere, but we always tried to find places like this. I remember one time we got kicked out of a restaurant because my mom was taking pictures. I don't even remember what it was called or where it was, but they sure didn't like her taking pictures of their Buddha statue." I looked up and smiled sadly at Edward.

I was met with smoldering green eyes that took my breath away. We were both silent before Edward said, "Why did I ever think you were one of them?" His voice was soft.

Feeling the awkwardness creeping in, I shrugged and joked. "Beats me. I mean, do I look like the kind of girl who lives on 500 calories a day?" I took a massive bite of pancake.

Edward laughed and the moment was suddenly lighthearted again. I sighed in relief.

"So you and your mom traveled a lot?" He inquired.

I nodded before swallowing. "Yeah, after my parents split up, Renée and I traveled all over. Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, Asia – you name it, I've probably been there."

"Well, I already know you've been to Kenya." He winked. "How about India?"

"Yep. Freshman year over summer break."

"Panamá?"

"Sixth grade."

"Brazil?"

"What part?" I sipped on my water. "I've been to Rio de Janeiro, Säo Paulo, Paraiba, Amazonas, and Mato Grosso."

Edward paused before smacking his hand on the table and saying, "Poland!"

I smiled sadly at his attempt to find a place I hadn't been. "Sorry, I went there when I was in the eighth grade. We spent the night there before catching a plane to Turkey the next morning."

"Wow. I've only been out of the country once and that was to Italy for my mom's fortieth birthday."

"I love Italy. Renée and I go there every few years to visit one of her friends."

"Was it hard moving around a lot?" He asked.

"Yeah. I never really made that many friends because we'd only stay there until Renée wanted to leave." I shrugged my shoulders and pushed my plate away, already finished. "But that's just one minor con to all the pros. And besides, I'd _much_ rather have grown up with my mom than with my dad." Sensing that he was going to ask about Charlie, I changed the subject. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, since I apparently know _nothing_ about you, I'd like to hear something about your life."

Edward rubbed the back of his neck. "Um… my name is Edward Anthony Cullen. I'm a senior at Hanley Falls Academy. My favorite color is blue and I like music. I'm a Gemini and don't like cats. I'm captain and quarterback of the football team and I think that MTV should actually play music videos."

"Okay, aside from the MTV thing, that was a bunch of crap." I stated. Edward just laughed.

"Sorry! I don't know what to tell you." He smiled sheepishly. "I don't really know what to say."

I drummed my fingers against the table. I could understand not really knowing what to say. I mean, if Brontё asked me to write a ten page essay about the essence of Bella Swan, I'd most likely fail…

"Okay, how about this." Edward started to propose. "Why don't we show each other what we enjoy doing?"

I arched an eyebrow at him in question.

"Wow that sounds stupid." He joked. Pushing his bronze hair out of his eyes, he rephrased the sentence. "We should take each other to do different things that we like to do. Like this!" He exclaimed, gesturing between us. "I like to come here after surfing."

I nodded slowly, understanding what he was trying to convey. "So, I get to take you somewhere _I_ like to go? That's kinda of hard considering I've lived here less than a month and you've lived here….?"

"All my life." He filled in my sentence. "I understand what you mean." His face was thoughtful. "Hmmm… how about this: I show you things _I _like to do and if you come up with something along the way, feel free to do that with me. How does that sound?"

"Sure, why not? So where are you taking me next?"

Edward pulled out his wallet and laid a few bills on the table before standing up. I followed. "That, my friend, is a mystery you will have to wait to solve." He winked.

I rolled my eyes and followed him out the door. One thing was for sure: Edward Cullen was turning out to be a mystery to me.

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**A/N: I bet you all saw that coming. (: I kinda got the inspiration to do the 'You show me your favorite place, I'll show you mine' thing from my favorite book _The Truth About Forever _by Sarah Dessen. In her story they play a game called 'Truth.' I love that book...**

**Review! (:**


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